High Motivation and Low Gain: Food Procurement from Rainforest Foraging by Baka Hunter-Gatherer Children

Abstract

In this paper, we described the daily activities of Pygmy hunter-gatherer children living in a foraging forest camp. Our two aims were (1) to clarify their time use and participation in food procurement activities and (2) to evaluate their contribution to food acquisition. The authors accompanied the children on an 8-day hunt and conducted direct observations on six children, focusing on one of them each day (12 h; 06:00–18:00). All foods brought back to the camp were identified and weighed, and their energy and protein values were calculated. Children were considered to be generally physically active, and they participated in food procurement activities about 3 h in a day, which was nearly the same amount of time as the Baka adults spent on those activities. Boys mainly spent their time rat hunting (101.7 min), while girls spent more time bail fishing (120.3 min) than rat hunting (60.0 min). Although the children spent more time foraging and had a greater number of participants engaged in it, the total amount of game that adults obtained was much greater (2787 g obtained by children and 12,273 g by adults). Each game brought back by adults (e.g., tortoises or vipers) was also generally heavier than that of children (e.g., rats or galago). Children often move in groups of four to eight people and perform most food acquisition activities with at least three to four people. Regarding the transition of their activity patterns as they got older, we hypothesized that boys tend to act alone or in smaller units, whereas girls continue to act in groups that contain people of various ages.