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2 Baka Darwin Initiative project: Introduction to wild meat hunting

Introduction into hunting and eating wild animals<br><br>This is the 2nd lecture in the series u201cLectures on wild meat and wild plant use by Baka Pygmies in Cameroon u201c, consisting of 9 presentations highlighting the projectu00b4s research outcomes.<br><br>The UK Darwin Initiative project "Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity" aimed at improving the agri-food systems, and as a result reduce the impact on wildlife, in Cameroon. A crucial component was to understand the hunting system of sedentarised Baka Pygmies and to encourage sustainable wildlife extraction.

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2 Baka Darwin Initiative project: Introduction to wild meat hunting

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  1. Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics Julia E. Fa, Stephan M Funk, Robert Nasi Lecture 2: Introduction into hunting and eating wild animals

  2. Why is wild meat hunting important? • Sustainable development: Livelihood strategies of local rural people • food security • most accessible and sustainable source of protein • micronutrient contents • significant source of revenue • Cultural / ethnic importance • e.g. urban people may use wild meat to culturally re-connect to their place of origin, where they or their parents consumed wild meat • Commodity of urban people / trade • major driver of unsustainable use • Conservation • unsustainable hunting • empty forests • Zoonotic disease

  3. Contents • This lecture gives a broad but concise overview of wild meat hunting • Introduction • Understanding the basics - meat eating and hunting in human evolution • Importance of wild animal foods in human diets • Species hunted for wild meat • Regional differences in species hunted for wild meat • Indigenous and rural peoples hunt differently but for the same reason • Understanding urban wild meat markets – outlets for commercial hunting • How much wild meat do people eat?

  4. The course This is the second lecture for the Darwin Initiative Project: Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity • the lecture follows the introduction chapter of the book Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics published by Cambridge University Press in September 2022 available as paperback or hardback can be downloaded free of charge

  5. Introduction

  6. What is wild meat? • First called “bushmeat”, now more and more replaced by “wild meat” • the term “bushmeat” was Africa centered • “wild meat” refers to all parts of the world • “Non-domesticated terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians harvested for food” (Coad et al. 2019) • insects, crustaceans, grubs, molluscs and fish are excluded from this definition • Location: • “wild meat” is hunted at any latitudes, from elephants in central Africa to elk in Alaska • here, we focus on the tropics & subtropics as they are unique • Conservation: harbouring most of the Earth’s biodiversity • Sustainable development: food security and livelihoods

  7. What´s the scale of the conservation problem? • Unsustainability ➞ Extinction • Alagoa’s curassow Mitumituin Brazil: habitat loss and hunting (Collar et al. 1992) • more than 12 large vertebrate species are known to have become extinct in Vietnam largely because of hunting (Bennett & Rao 2002) • 88% of 78 threatened species of Galliformes for which direct exploitation (hunting and egg collection) is considered to be a pressure (Mainka & Trivedi 2002) data from Mainka & Trivedi 2002

  8. Geographic variation of the conservation problem • Dependent on continent and human density of remaining forest (Fa & Peres 2001) South Asia: 522 people/km2 West/Central Africa: 99 people/km2 Latin America: 46people/km2 • Asia is different reliance on large-scale wildlife trade involving long-distance, international supply chains result of rapid economic growth: the demand for natural resources has exploded centre for the consumption of wildlife derivatives

  9. How important is wild meat for people? • provides food security and livelihoods for millions of rural and indigenous people that still depend on it often the only protein source macronutrients micronutrients • Eating wild meat improves food security e.g. a study in the Cross River National Park in Nigeria (Friant et al. 2020) data from Friant et al. 2020

  10. How big is the zoonotic disease risk? • Zoonotic diseases are diseases that jump from wild animals to humans • Include Ebola in Africa COVID-19 in Southeast Asia HIV and many more • Increased zoonotic risk and emergent zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 increase of human-animal contacts increased in anthropogenic movements of live domestic and wild animals • Recent increases in documented virus discovery reflect increased discovery rate new pathogens about one new disease is being detected per year (Cleaveland et al. 2007; Woolhouse 2002) from Wille et al. 2021

  11. A reminder: Ebola disease • emerging zoonotic viral disease first identified in humans in southern Sudan in 1976 but likely occurred already in 1972 in Tandala, DRC • Reservoirs Fruit bats Chimpanzee Gorilla Possibly antelope and monkey wild meat • The public health impact of Ebola epidemics is far greater than case counts significant crippling of the health sector economic cost social disruption from Alexander et al. 2015

  12. The discipline of ‘wild meat biology’ • Wide range of disciplines ecology anthropology, sustainable development human and animal health and epidemiology economics, law etc. even botany (le.g. effect of loss of herbivores) • Consequently, research papers distributed over a large number of academic journals 9 August 2020: 1,046 papers containing the key words “bushmeat” or “wild meat” as a topic in the Web of Science. 308 academic journals

  13. A very recent discipline • The first research paper was published in 1983 Since the turn of the millennium, the yearly number of papers has increased steadily Has now reached over 100 per annum • Campaigns around the so-called ‘bushmeat crisis’ that emerged in the early 1990s Protectionist measures toward wildlife consumption • Today, more comprehensive and context-specific biological and policy responses to prevent wildlife declines and to promote human wellbeing WOS search 1.4.2022: "wild meat" (Topic) or bushmeat (Topic)

  14. Understanding the basics - meat eating and hunting in human evolution

  15. Early human history I • Populations of chimpanzees and baboons are known to hunt cooperatively (Stanford & Wrangham 1998). • Suggests that hominids may also have been social hunters who shared the obtained prey in addition to actively stealing carcasses, as do other carnivores. From Stanford 2001

  16. Early human history II • Competition with other carnivores could have induced • observed increase in body size of primitive hunters (Arsuagaet al. 2014) • strategic cooperation • diurnal habits • rapid manipulation of prey • selective capture of smaller prey, • in parallel with • progressive expansion of the neocortex • improvement of cognitive skills • improvement of intragroup communication (Pearce et al. 2013; Van Valkenburgh 2001)

  17. Early human history III • Cooperative hunting stable evolutionary strategy from the moment Palaeolithic hunters became specialized in the pursuit of large animals (Boesch 1994) • Requirements adequate technology social organization • Consequences rise to the adequate capture and processing of carcasses, selective transport distribution Adapted from Stanford 2001

  18. Shifts from hunting and gathering • Around 10,000 YA • resulted in a narrowing of diet (Larsen 2003) • resulted in a decline in health (Larsen 2003) • poorer dental health • increased occlusal abnormalities • increased iron deficiency anaemia • increased infection • bone loss • Industrial Revolution some 200 YA • people’s diets changing far more quickly than genetic adaptation has been able to keep up with this change • discordance hypothesis (Eaton et al. 1997) • ‘diseases of civilisation’, e.g. cardiovascular disease

  19. Importance of wild animal foods in human diets

  20. How to assess it? • The relative importance of wild meat and plant consumption patterns can be determined from information obtained from the few remaining hunter-gatherer societies • patterns probably date back to the late Pleistocene Epoch • however • virtually all hunter-gatherers have evolved complex technology compared to premodern hominins (Marlowe 2005) • biased sample as they might have persisted because they occupied marginal habitats less coveted by agricultural people • many have changed their diets as a result of their association with more food productive agricultural societies, e.g. Pygmy communities in the Congo Basin (Dounias & Froment 2011)

  21. Some Indigenous Hunter-Gatherer People I • Africa !Kung (Ju/’hoansi) of the San peoples the Kalahari Desert of northeastern Namibia, southern Angola, and northwestern Botswana Hadza in the Rift valley, Tanzania ‘Pygmy’ People, an ethno-linguistically diverse group of hunter-gatherers or former hunter- gatherers Western groups, incl.uding Baka in Cameroon/Gabon and Aka in Congo/CAR Eastern groups including Mbuti Efe and Mbuti Swa in DRC’s Ituri forest Baka hunter, Photo: Darwin Initiative Project Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity

  22. A comment regarding the term ‘Pygmy’ • We use the general, value-neutral definition of Pygmy (Pygmée in French) to describe hunter-gatherers of small stature in the Congo basin “In anthropology, member of any human group whose adult males grow to less than 59 inches (150 cm) in average height…” (Britannica, n.d.). “Capitalized: any of a small people of equatorial Africa ranging under five feet (1.5 meters) in height” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). • The term is sometimes considered pejorative especially as the non-capitalized form can mean “an insignificant or unimpressive person” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). • A replacement has not been universally agreed upon and has not the same easy and widespread recognition • Duda (2017) writes we will ‘‘…mostly use it for reason of convenience, when discussing about cross-cultural researches and commonalities between groups’’. • Survival International, Groupe International de Travail pour les PeuplesAutochtones and other international charities dedicated to the rights of tribal peoples continue to use the capitalized term Baka hunter, Photo: Darwin Initiative Project Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity

  23. Some Indigenous Hunter-Gatherer People II • Asia Batak, related groups in Indonesia Katu of eastern Laos and central Vietnam Minangkabau in Indonesia • South America Aché of the Paraguayan Amazon Huaorani or Waorani and Shuarof the Equadorian Amazon Kaxinawá (HuniKuin) of eastern Peru and Northwestern Brazil Ngöbe (Ngäbe) of Panama Piro of the Peruvian Amazon Tsimane of the Bolivian Amazon Wai Wai in Brazil and Guyana Yanomami of the Brazilian and Venezualan Amazon Tsimane hunter. Photo: CBC

  24. Subsistence dependenceupon total (fished + hunted) animal foods • 229 hunter gatherer societies worldwide • majority depends at least a quarter of their subsistence from fished or hunted animal foods • median: 56-65 • Predicted macronutrient energy intake ranges: carbohydrate 22–40% protein 19–35% fat 28–47% Adapted from Cordainet al. 2000

  25. Diet is extrinsically conditioned by biogeographical and ecological factors I • Effects of latitude on carbohydrate intake Shown are the ranges of carbohydrate intake diets of 229 hunter-gatherer societies identical and moderate carbohydrate intake (30%-35% of the total energy) over a wide range of latitude intervals (11° to 40° north or south of the equator) with increasing latitude intervals from 41° to north or south of the equator, carbohydrate intake decreased markedly ?: the upper limit of the range for the latitude >60 ° is unknown Data from Ströhle & Hahn (2011)

  26. Diet is extrinsically conditioned by biogeographical and ecological factors II • In desert and tropical grasslands: carbohydrates are ≈29%-34% of the total energy • In northern areas (tundra and northern coniferous forest): carbohydrates are ≤15% of the total energy (Mussi 2007; Ströhle & Hahn 2011). • In higher latitudes, where plant growth is greatly curtailed: adapted to living largely or entirely on meat and fat genetic and physiological adaptations to this diet indigenous people of Greenland, the Inuit(Fumagalli et al. 2015). Photo:) Peter Prokosch, GRID Arendal

  27. Species hunted for wild meat

  28. Species • ~2,000 different animal species are hunted for wild meat across the world (Redmond et al. 2006) 55% are terrestrial vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals), 638 species are hunted in the world’s tropical and subtropical regions • Wild meat use mammals: 45.8% birds: 34.8% reptiles: 13.8% amphibians: 5.6% data from Redmond et al. 2006

  29. Mammals • Most hunted mammals (Robinson & Bennett 2004; Robinson & Redford 1991) large-bodied primates, ungulates and rodents, average adult body mass equal to or greater than 1 kg • Why? greater return for the energy invested in hunting because of their size, greater susceptibility to the more commonly used hunting techniques, such as snares and projectile weapons, particularly firearms • Large mammals are typically targeted first by hunters then medium-sized, then small even though, larger mammals are opportunistically hunted preventing large species recovery Photo: Eva Ávila

  30. Geographic variation of size of hunted mammals • Preponderance of smaller prey species in South America • Larger prey size and greater accessibility to hunters may explain the wider range of mammal species hunted in African forests compared to South American ones (Fa & Peres 2001). 55% of 284 African forest mammals are hunted 28% of 192 South American (Amazonian) forest mammals • Predominance of terrestrial large-bodied mammals in African forests can also explain their greater vulnerability to indirect hunting techniques e.g., traps, nets, snares snare hunting is virtually absent in the Amazon basin (Fa & Purvis 1997; Peres 2000) Data from Corlett 2007; Fa & Peres 2001

  31. Birds • Especially cracids, large arboreal galliform birds (chachalacas, guans and curassows) especially in the diets of Amazonian rural communities less commonly hunted in African forests • Examples: 47 bird species are hunted for food in the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve (Peru) and its surroundings (Gonzalez 2004) 302 different species of 24 orders on sale in wild meat markets in 10 sampled West African countries (Petrozzi 2018) 23% threatened according to the IUCN Red List Razor-billed Curassow (Mitu tuberosa) CC BY-SA 4.0Whaldener Endo

  32. Reptiles and amphibians • Reptiles turtles and tortoise species (chelonians) are the most heavily exploited for human consumption (Alves et al. 2012; Pezzuti et al. 2010) giant Amazon river turtle, the largest South American river turtle, is one of the most consumed species snakes are generally hunted opportunistically, but important in Asia and West Africa • Amphibians consumed on a smaller scale at least 32 amphibians (3 Urodela and 29 Anura) are used as food globally (Mohneke et al. 2009) Osteolaemustetraspishead in a stew, Photo: Eva Ávila

  33. Regional differences in species hunted for wild meat

  34. Africa • meta-analysis in West and Central African moist forests over a 40-year period (1971-2010) in five countries (Petrozzi et al. 2016) • 129 species • 91 mammals • 9 reptiles • 14 birds • 2 amphibians • mammals were also the most numerous in terms of the number of individuals and overall biomass traded • large herbivores and frugivores were the most common trophic animal guild • African savannah • ungulates

  35. Central / South America and Asia • Meta-analysis of 78 studiesin Central America and Amazonia (Stafford et al. 2017a) • 90 mammal species including 12 primate genera, 6 ungulate genera and 8 rodent genera • primates are the main target but overall standing biomass is less than ungulates and rodents combined • Amazon Basin: medium-sized ungulates and large rodents • Asian moist forests • information deficit • mammal species >1 kg, representing over 160 species (Corlett 2007), but pigs generally represent the predominant form • even in areas where good-quality forest remains intact, only a small proportion of the former vertebrate diversity and abundance is still found (Harrison et al. 2016).

  36. Wild meat versus fish • Ocean and inland fisheries important in Asia and the Amazon basin relatively high ratio of seacoast to land area in Asia large number of rivers in the Amazon basin accounting for the historically higher proportion of fish and, thus, the lower contribution of mammalian meat to the diet in comparison to Africa (Robinson & Bennett 1999b) From dailymail.co.uk

  37. Indigenous and rural peoples hunt differently but for the same reason

  38. Amazon basin • Indigenous communities in the Amazon (Redford & Robinson 1987), Redford 1993) • mammals were the most important type of game with primates first • birds second • reptiles third • Colonists • mammals were first with rodents first • reptiles second and birds third • indigenous groups took on average a higher number of animals per consumer year than did colonists

  39. Congo basin I • Significant differences in species hunted and extraction rates between Pygmies and non-Pygmy groups (Fa et al. 2016) • Pygmies hunted a smaller range of taxa but took a higher proportion of prey of a greater mean body mass than non-Pygmies • almost twice as high in non-Pygmy sites than in Pygmy sites were • Harvest rates • animals per inhabitant • extraction rates • the number of animals hunted per unit area • but overall, no significant differences in biomass values

  40. Congo basin II • Pygmies have a substantially lower impact on prey populations than other groups due to • lower numbers • estimated extraction rates • Most alarming (Fa et al. 2016) • proportion of hunted animals that are traded for profit • significantly higher volumes of game sold by non-Pygmies than by Pygmies

  41. Understanding urban wild meat markets – outlets for commercial hunting

  42. The problem • Although subsistence hunters can have a negative impact on prey populations, it is the shift to commercial hunting that will have the greatest impact • increase in hunting and value of bushmeat because of increased demand from urban areas • subsistence hunting and fishing have usually not posed a significant threat at low human densities to the abundant wildlife species living around rural forest communities • as urban centres grow, the commercial wild meat trade to supply them poses an ever-increasing threat, • to the animals of the forest • food security of people who have hunted them • zoonotic risk

  43. Urbanization I • urbanization of most of Africa is moving quickly forward, especially south of the Sahara (United Nations 2014) one in 10 people lived in urban areas in 1900 almost half of all sub-Saharan inhabitants now live in towns and cities • growing number of wild meat markets in Central Africa is a direct result in urban markets, bushmeat also complements the under-supply of domestic meat sources cattle cannot be raised in the Central African forest region because of trypanosomiasis Photo: Darwin Initiative Project Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity

  44. Urbanization II • Consuming wild meat • many recent migrants to cities are accustomed to eating wild meat • may prefer its taste • consuming bushmeat as a luxury, rather than a dietary need. • often the cheapest meat available • Burgeoning urban population fuels an ever-increasing, lucrative trade of wild animals from rural and protected areas for reasons other than local food security • This trade is now the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in tropical and subtropical areas around the world.

  45. Who caters for urban markets • People living in remote, forested areas are likely to be the most dependent on wild meat but have little access to markets • People living in more populous, peri-urban areas are likely the actors contributing most to total hunting effort, due to the greater market access • Market access does not just influence wild meat consumption • increases the opportunity for hunters to transition from a barter-based to a monetary economy • leading to increases in their wealth and livelihood diversification (Chaves et al. 2017)

  46. Who caters for urban markets • People living in remote, forested areas are likely to be the most dependent on wild meat but have little access to markets • People living in more populous, peri-urban areas are likely the actors contributing most to total hunting effort, due to the greater market access • Market access does not just influence wild meat consumption increases the opportunity for hunters to transition from a barter-based to a monetary economy leading to increases in their wealth and livelihood diversification (Chaves et al. 2017) Photo: ColinceMenel/CIFOR

  47. Actor groups • Five main actor groups identified in the wild meat trade farmer hunters or mainly subsistence hunters, commercial hunters wholesalers market traders small restaurant operators • Commonly, hunters and intermediaries are men, whilst sellers are women (Tagg et al. 2018). • Provides income for a large number of people, but it is a fairly closed system. • Most wild meat markets are largely unregulated by either state or local Photo: CIFOR/Axel Fassio

  48. Species composition in markets • E.g. in Central Africa Ternary graph of proportions of the three mammal taxa on sale in bushmeat markets in West and Central Africa (Fa 2007) Most markets sell largely ungulates and rodents, but primates constitute more than 20% • These three taxonomic groups are the most important for human consumption in all areas • Significant variation in the proportions of ungulates, rodents and primates is typical Adapted from Fa 2007

  49. Volumes sold • Very large variation in amounts traded per site • amounts traded ranged from about 100 to 9,000 carcasses per annum(Fa et al. 2006; Starkey 2004; Wilkieet al. 2005) • adjusting wild meat volume traded per site by the number of inhabitants in each site (Fa et al. 2006) gives: • 20 kg available per person per annum • median 7.7, range 0.1–392 • highly skewed, as 45% of all studied sites had between 0 and 4 kg of wild meat per person per annum • Markets reflect • human processes (hunting pressure, cash needs, relative prices of wild meat species and domestic meat, transport cost) • prey abundance (Ling & Milner-Gulland 2006)

  50. Luxury goods • Consumers in provincial towns (particularly isolated ones) may buy wild meat because it is the cheaper meat and more readily available (Fargeot et al. 2017; Van Vliet et al. 2010) • Wild meat in metropolitan cities throughout the tropics is more of a luxury item and status symbol (Cao Ngoc & Wyatt 2013; Shairp et al. 2016; Wilkie et al. 2016) • pay higher prices than rural consumers for the same animal • encourages rural hunters to increase the amount they take and the proportion they sell to gain income as well as food (Bennett et al. 2007; de Merode et al. 2004; Grande-Vega et al. 2016) • many rural peoples have shifted from being traditional subsistence hunters to supplying cities. • encourages non-local hunters to enter the market. Perhaps more significantly,

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