CHAPTER 3 

 GAME HARVEST BY MAYA HUNTERS IN QUINT ANA ROO, MEXICO 



Introduction 



Studies on the nature and extent of hunting have been identified as a critical need to develop 

 resource management strategies (Posey et al., 1984). These alternative strategies are necessary because 

 traditional approaches used in Europe and the United States have not been successful in response to the 

 loss of pristine habitats, especially tropical forests, and the unregulated harvests of wildlife, especially 

 for commercial purposes (Shaw, 1991). While people have modified their surrounding habitat and 

 harvested wildlife for millennia, the rates at which these activities presently occur have placed the needs 

 of many people in conflict with those of wildlife (Redford and Robinson, 1985, 1991; Robinson and 

 Redford, 1991c). The challenge for conservationists is to identify instances where the goals of natural 

 resource conservation and the goals of indigenous people are compatible. 



Previous studies about hunting have treated hunters, wildlife, and the environment in which 

 they occur as separate, independent elements. Traditionally, anthropologists have studied hunting from 

 the point of view of indigenous people and their associated cultural factors. Studies in the Neotropics, 

 for example, have quantified differences between indigenous groups with respect to hunting technique 

 (Hill and Hawkes, 1983; Yost and Kelley, 1983), taboos (McDonald, 1977; Ross, 1978), use of 

 gardens and habitat modification (Linares, 1976; Nations and Nigh, 1980), and hunting regulation 

 (Balee, 1985; Werner, 1983). Biologists, on the other hand, traditionally have studied hunting from the 

 point of view of its effects on the wildlife. Studies in the Neotropics, for example, have quantified 

 differences between wildlife species with respect to changes in behavior (Crawshaw, 1991; Dallmeier, 

 1991; Mittermeier, 1991), population density (Freese et al., 1982; Peres, 1990), patterns of habitat use 

 (Bodmer, 1989; Bodmer et al., 1988a, 1988b; Fragoso, 1991), and mammal community structure 

 (Glanz, 1991; Janson and Emmons, 1990; Malcolm, 1990). While these studies have provided much 



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