Food Choice and Foraging Sites among the Alyawara

Abstract

Like all hunter-gatherers, the Alyawara of central Australia exploit only some of the subsistence resources and foraging areas potentially available to them. On the assumption that natural selection has shaped decision making and that fitness is usually maximized by efficient foraging, we expect people to choose the most energetically efficient options available. We use two formal optimality models developed by evolutionary ecologists to identify the choices the Alyawara should make, given the goal of maximizing the rate of energy capture while foraging. On review of the available data, we find that Alyawara behavior is generally consistent with this goal. We then consider three issues raised by our analysis: (1) the postulated link between human behavior and inclusive fitness; (2) the use of energy as a measure of foraging efficiency; and (3) the limitations potentially imposed on the general implications of our analysis by the contemporary circumstances of the Alyawara.

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