8 



assemblage, whereas Suriname and Barro Colorado Island represented natural or undisturbed 

 assemblages. 



Based upon a comparison of behavioral and ecological traits for the terrestrial mammals 

 harvested at Cerro Brujo, Linares (1976) determined that there were differences between closely related 

 species that affected the frequency with which they were harvested. Between peccaries, the white- 

 lipped peccary needs a large home range and probably a large forest, whereas the collared peccary is 

 known to live in disturbed conditions and readily eats cultivated crops. Between deer, the brocket deer 

 is shy and dwells in the forest, whereas the white-tailed deer occurs in cleared and cultivated fields. 

 The collared peccary and white-tailed deer were harvested more frequently by Cerro Brujo hunters than 

 were white-lipped peccaries or brocket deer. The other mammals taken at Cerro Brujo also ate crops 

 or used gardens. 



Garden hunting has been described for various indigenous people, but the intensity and nature 

 of these studies has varied. Perhaps one of the most thorough studies of this practice was conducted by 

 Irvine (1987) at a site in the Ecuadorian Amazon that was populated by Runa Indians. Irvine (1987) 

 quantified the take of game with respect to habitat type (i.e., gardens, fallow, and forest). By rank 

 order of frequency of take, the acouchy (Myoprocta pratii, 25.6% of kills, total number of kills = 

 833), agouti (14.0%), paca (13.3%), and squirrels (Sciurus spp., 11.1%) were most commonly taken 

 by Runa hunters. By rank order by weight of kills, the paca (25.8%, total weight = 3,439.7 kg), 

 collared peccary (20.4%), agouti (14.1%), and brocket deer (Mazama spp., 12.7%) were more 

 conunon. Among the caviomorph rodents and the large mammals, there were differences in the 

 frequency of game kills by habitat type. For the rodents, the paca (20.8% of kills in gardens, 21.7% 

 of kills in fallows, and 57.5% of kills in forest) and the agouti (15.8%, 32.4%, and 51.8%) readily 

 used gardens and fallows, whereas the acouchy (1.5%, 27.5%, and 70.7% [corrected values from 

 Table 4-5 of Irvine]) readily used fallow and forest, but only infrequently used gardens. For the large 

 mammals, the collared peccary (0.0%, 14.3%, and 85.7% [corrected values from Table 4-5 of Irvine]) 

 and the brocket deer (0.0%, 35.0% and 65.0%) readily used fallow and forest, but did not use gardens. 



