Endurance pursuit hunting among recent foragers and its relevance for hominin locomotor evolution

Textual analysis of 425 cases of endurance pursuit hunts (EPHs) found in ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources reveals the diversity, extent, and effectiveness of the endurance pursuit tactic. Endurance pursuits involve persistently running after an encountered animal, often for hours, until it can be subdued, the tactic frequently involving bouts of walking and tracking. Building on this definition, we assess the plausibility of five hypotheses that could account for the evolution of endurance pursuit strategies in hominins: i) optimization of subsistence efficiency, ii) risk minimization, iii) honest signaling of hunting prowess, iv) acquisition of alternative resources such as skin or fat, and v) procurement of game for spiritual reasons. Our test of these hypotheses also aids in delineating the contexts and factors that affect the success of EPHs. Crusted snow or high ambient temperatures favor the technique. Endurance pursuit hunters train from a young age, pace themselves carefully, and take advantage of prey cycles of flight and pause for recovery. Endurance pursuit hunts are predominantly a male activity, although females sometimes participate. Medium- to large-sized herbivores and carnivores are the main targets. Among the five tested hypotheses, our results indicate that EPHs are most consistent with optimization of subsistence efficiency, risk minimization, and costly signaling. These fitness goals could have provided a significant selective context for the evolution in early hominins of a running gait.