Persistence hunting

Persistence hunting (sometimes called endurance hunting or cursorial hunting) is a hunting technique in which hunters, who may be slower than their prey over short distances, use a combination of running, walking, and tracking to pursue prey until it is exhausted. Grey wolves, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas, lungless spiders, and humans are adapted to using this hunting strategy. In particular, humans can sweat to reduce body heat, while their quadrupedal prey needs to slow from a gallop in order to pant.

Today, persistence hunting is very rare among humans, and is seen only in a few groups such as Kalahari bushmen and the Tarahumara or Raramuri people of Northern Mexico. The technique requires endurance running—running long distances for extended periods of time—and among primates, endurance running is only seen in humans. Persistence hunting is thought to have been one of the earliest forms of human hunting, having evolved 2 million years ago.

Human persistence hunting