WHEN it comes to hunting, it’s brains that count, not brawn, according to a study of Ache forest hunters in eastern Paraguay.
Although the physical strength of hunters peaks at about 24, they don’t excel at bringing home the bacon till they’re about 40. By that age, they’ve acquired the foraging and hunting skills to maximise their daily haul. They bring in around 0.7 kilograms of meat per hour of hunting, twice the catch of the 24-year-olds (Journal of Human Evolution, vol 42, p 639).
