118 

 Other possibilities regarding why game harvest differed between sites include behavioral 

 differences by game or hunters. While game and hunter behavior were not examined in this study, it is 

 interesting to note that by percent biomass of harvested game, the harvest of large mammals was 

 similar between sites, but the harvest of small and medium-sized mammals was proportionally greater 

 at Cerro Brujo. This suggests that hunters at Ejido X-Hazil y Anexos may be selecting for the larger 

 mammals. The reason for the relatively large proportion of pocket gophers and coatis taken by Maya 

 hunters, compared widi Cerro Brujo hunters, however, is unclear. 



Sustainability of Maya Hunting 



It is important to note that many of the species reported by Linares (1976) for Panama still are 

 widely hunted in peasants and indigenous people in Mesoamerica, including Maya subsistence hunters 

 in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Of the 13 game species indicated by Linares (1976:339), all except the rats, 

 opossums, and manatee (Trichechus maiiatus) are taken today by Maya hunters. Whereas the manatee 

 does not occur on the study area, the rats and opossums are present (Navarro L. et al., 1990), but not 

 consumed. Given the length of Maya occupation in the area and the extent of their subsistence 

 activities, it is important to understand how game species have continued to survive in this area but 

 have become depleted in other areas subjected to hunting. 



In conclusion, in this assessment of game harvest by Maya hunters in Quintana Roo, Mexico. I 

 have shown that hunting still is practiced by many members of the community of X-Hazil Sur. This an 

 important activity that now is opportunistic rather than obligatory in nature but still provides prestige 

 and meat to the hunter and his family. The key to the sustainability of hunting appears to be the 

 moderate levels of disturbance caused by shifting cultivation. The gardens themselves and the native 

 plants that generate from the seed bank in the soil below the gardens provide ample food resources for 

 the game (see Chapters 5 and 6). If milpa agriculture is replaced by cattle ranching and commercial 

 logging, the delicate balance developed over millennia between game and gardeners likely will be 



