The niche variation hypothesis (NVH) proposes that a broader population niche arises from greater individual specialization. Despite decades of empirical testing, research remains constrained to non‐human foragers, and the generality of NVH may extend beyond wildlife. The analysis of > 8000 hunting records from 12 human societies across four continents shows that within‐individual variation accounts for most of the observed variation in subsistence harvest returns (i.e. the biomass of prey captured during successful hunting trips) within populations. By employing various labor strategies (e.g. food sharing, mutualism with dogs) and technologies to hunt prey more efficiently, human predators homogenize hunting outcomes between individuals. Even so, there is a varying degree of individual specialization across populations, with between‐individual differences accounting for from little (3%) to more than half (54%) of the variation in the biomass of prey. In line with the NVH, increased heterogeneity in harvest returns is driven by stronger individual specialization across human populations. Although the underlying environmental and sociocultural drivers of this pattern remain to be explored, these results, taken together, strengthen the generality of the NVH and extend its applicability beyond wildlife.
Raul Costa‐Pereira (Thu,) studied this question.