Sun, age and test location affect spatial orientation in human foragers in rainforests.

ABSTRACT: The ability to know the direction of food sources is important for the foraging success of hunter-gatherers, especially in rainforests where dense vegetation limits visual detection distances. Besides sex and age, prior experience with the environment and the use of environmental cues are known to influence orientation abilities of humans. Among environmental cues, the position of the sun in the sky is important for orientation of diurnal animal species. However, whether or to what extent humans use the sun is largely unknown. Here, we investigated orientation abilities of the Mbendjele BaYaka people in the Republic of Congo, by conducting pointing tests (N_participants = 54, age: 6-76 years) in different locations in the rainforest. The Mbendjele were overall highly accurate at

SUBMITTER: Jang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6661361 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature