Study finds modern hunter-gathers relocate to maximize foraging efficiency
(PHYSorg.com Archaeology & Fossils)

As bumblebees forage for nectar from one flower to the next, at a certain point, they will move to another area once their search for food becomes too inefficient. This behavior, also observed among other animals, conforms to a prevalent model in biology called the `marginal value theorem.` In like manner, groups of modern hunter-gatherers relocate their camps to maximize their foraging efficiency, according to a Dartmouth study published in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings illustrate for the first time that the marginal value theorem also predicts camp movements among humans, specifically, among the Batek, a group of indigenous hunter-gatherers from Peninsular Malaysia.