Child and adolescent foraging: new directions in evolutionary research

Ilaria Pretelli, Alyssa Crittenden, Edmond Dounias (), Sagan Friant, Jeremy Koster, Karen Kramer, Shani M. Mangola, Almudena Mari Saez and Sheina Lew-Levy
Additional contact information
Ilaria Pretelli: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology [Leipzig] - Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Alyssa Crittenden: Unknown
Edmond Dounias: CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - EPHE - École Pratique des Hautes Études - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IRD [Occitanie] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Sagan Friant: Unknown
Jeremy Koster: Unknown
Karen Kramer: Unknown
Shani M. Mangola: Unknown
Almudena Mari Saez: Unknown
Sheina Lew-Levy: Unknown

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Abstract: Young children and adolescents in subsistence societies forage for a wide range of resources. They often target child‐specific foods, they can be very successful foragers, and they share their produce widely within and outside of their nuclear family. At the same time, while foraging, they face risky situations and are exposed to diseases that can influence their immune development. However, children's foraging has largely been explained in light of their future (adult) behavior. Here, we reinterpret findings from human behavioral ecology, evolutionary medicine and cultural evolution to center foraging children's contributions to life history evolution, community resilience and immune development. We highlight the need to foreground immediate alongside delayed benefits and costs of foraging, including inclusive fitness benefits, when discussing children's food production from an evolutionary perspective. We conclude by recommending that researchers carefully consider children's social and ecological context, develop cross‐cultural perspectives, and incorporate children's foraging into Indigenous sovereignty discourse.

Keywords: childhood evolution; children; community resilience; foraging; immune development; inclusive fitness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Published in Evolutionary Anthropology, 2024, 33 (2), pp.e22020. ⟨10.1002/evan.22020⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04547820

DOI: 10.1002/evan.22020

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