Are there any animals you wouldn’t hunt? Sitting in a temperature controlled environment with manufactured clothing it is easy to put a big red X through a lot of animals as off limits. As a modern society we have our list of core animals that we accept as game. What about those fringe animals, like any type of primate? There has been outrage over the hunting of baboons that cost an Idaho Game and Fish Commissioner his job, read that article here. A popular hunting show that centers around eating meat showed a Bolivian jungle tribe, the Tsimane, and its host eating monkey stew. Some African cultures still eat “bushmeat” to this day. Depending on the area, African hunting lodges encourage the killing of baboons for village safety.
Recently researchers in Sri Lanka discovered that our ancestors hunted monkeys and squirrels to survive in nearly inhospitable rainforests. Not only did they survive they thrived. From 45,000 years ago up until 4,000 years ago they hunted monkeys sustainably. There is proof the old homo sapiens used bows and arrows and darts to selectively choose which animals to take. A tooth of a macaque was found to be shaped and used as a cutting or stabbing tool. The ancient humans knew their prey and knew it well enough to understand life cycles to not extripate them.
The cave where over 15,000 bone and tooth fragments came from is thought to be the oldest human settlement in the country. With still more research to be done what else will they find? Ancient humans using modern day conservation techniques to maintain a population. Or is it the other way around and we are using ancient techniques in a modern world? Yet again science proves that the key to conservation is hunting. No one can argue that an ancient civilization selectively chose animals to maintain a hunted population for over 40,000 years. The question now lies with you, would you hunt a monkey?
