224 

 Game Harvest and Wildlife Use of Gardens 



Maya hunters at X-Hazil Sur harvested eight species of game mammals and four species of game 

 birds. Game inventories were compiled by living at X-Hazil Sur and interviewing hunters immediately 

 after they returned from a hunt (see Chapter 3). This encouraged hunters to report the game they 

 harvested and facilitated accurate measurements of the game taken. 



Among the game harvested, the coati (Nasua nasua, n = 167 individuals taken during June 1989- 

 October 1990), pocket gopher (Orthogeomys hispidus, n = 53), and paca {Agouti paca, n = 47) were 

 the most frequently taken mammals, whereas the plain chachalaca (Ortalis vetula, n = 167) was the 

 most frequently taken bird (Table 3-1). Hunters did not take several other potential game species, 

 including insects, reptiles, and amphibians, which are widely eaten by other indigenous people in 

 forested Neotropical areas, or other mammals such as the tapir (Tapirus bairdii), armadillo (Dasypus 

 novemcifictus), or primates {Ateles geojfroyi and Alouatta palliata). This indicates that Maya hunters at 

 X-Hazil Sur are taking a limited number of taxa from all of the species found in the area. 



Except for the white-lipped peccary (three individuals taken during a single outing), all game birds 

 and mammals at Ejido X-Hazil y Anexos were taken at least some of the time in areas categorized as 

 Combined/Early Secondary Forest. These areas were composed of gardens, former gardens, and 

 fallowed areas that were reverting to forest. Eight game taxa were taken ^ 50% of the time in these 

 areas (Table 3-7): pocket gopher (94.3% of kills in Combined/Early Secondary Forest, n = 53 kills), 

 plain chachalaca (94.0%, n = 167), white-tailed deer (83.3%, n = 26), agouti (68.6%, n = 35), 

 ocellated turkey (66.7%, n = 6), paca (65.9%, n = 47), coati (55.1%, n = 167), and brocket deer 

 (50.0%, n = 16). These high proportions of game taken in areas categorized as Combined/Early 

 Secondary Forest show that most of the game birds and mammals harvested by Maya hunters at X- 

 Hazil Sur used gardens and the disturbed areas in the vicinity of gardens. 



The high proportion of game taken in the vicinity of gardens at Ejido X-Hazil y Anexos also has 

 been noted in other studies of hunters/horticulturalists. In a study of the Runa Indians in Ecuador, 

 Irvine (1987) determined that hunters concentrated on game species that occurred in gardens and 



