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Home‐range size in large‐bodied carnivores as a model for predicting neandertal territory size
Author(s) -
Churchill Steven Emilio,
Walker Christopher Scott,
Schwartz Adam Michael
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/evan.21483
Subject(s) - foraging , range (aeronautics) , home range , context (archaeology) , geography , ecology , pleistocene , resource (disambiguation) , hominidae , habitat , physical geography , biology , biological evolution , archaeology , computer science , computer network , materials science , composite material , genetics
Adult human foragers expend roughly 30–60 kcal per km in unburdened walking at optimal speeds. 1,2 In the context of foraging rounds and residential moves, they may routinely travel distances of 50–70 km per week, often while carrying loads. 3 Movement on the landscape, then, is arguably the single most expensive item in the activity budgets of hunter‐gatherers. Mobility costs may have been greater still for Neandertals. They had stocky, short‐limbed physiques that were energetically costly to move 4 and lived in relatively unproductive Pleistocene environments 5 that may have required greater movement to deal with problems of biodepletion and resource patchiness. 6 But just how mobile were the Neandertals?