The batida, or traditional group hunting, practiced by the Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula provides hunters with wild meat to sustain their families. Our study of batida hunting trips in the Los Petenes community during a 6-month period (2008–2009) provided information on the participants, the practices, and the results. Maya peasant-hunters targeted deer (Odocoileus virginianus, 81%) and peccary (Pecari tajacu, 19%), obtaining on average 2.3 kg of meat per participant. In Los Petenes the batida is open to all adult men who wish to participate within its merit-based hierarchical structure, organized by two hunters recognized for their outstanding abilities. Interview data indicates that in addition to meat, the batida provides its participants with a reinforcement of their cultural identity as Maya peasant-hunters, a sense of belonging to the group and the community, and the chance to gain prestige as hunters. We argue that these social dimensions of the batida, complemented by the practical goal of meat provision, maintain this practice in the community, and very possibly in other communities of Maya heritage.

Fish bones at archaeological sites may be used to address anthropological questions about past fishing practices and trade, as well as biological questions about past species distributions. In both cases, it is important to distinguish fish caught locally from those transported longer distances to the disposal site. The necessary standard of proof may vary by the geographic scale of the study and proximity to fish habitat, but multiple lines of evidence should be brought to bear, such as regional ethnography or oral history, fishing artifacts, available local habitat, skeletal parts frequencies, and bone chemistry. An example from the American Pacific Northwest demonstrates the complexity of determining catch location. The question at the Grissom site was whether the bones could demonstrate past salmonid and other fish occurrence in the adjacent Caribou Creek. Of seven fish species identified, three species were interpreted as local catch, one as local but indicating a change in range, and three as equivocal.

In order to fully understand the importance of responsible environmental management, it is necessary to understand the historical precedents for the visualization of nature and how that aesthetic impacts the way in which environmental policy decisions are made. There are established visual types that feed Western society's perception of what the natural world is, its ‘inherent’ meaning, and how we should interact with the physical space that is associated with the word ‘nature.’ This paper examines these cultural types and contrasts them with applied zooarchaeology. By examining the impact the visual aesthetic of the natural world has on socio-cultural interactions with nature, environmental policy makers can come to new understandings of how culturally prescribed definitions affect the way in which society interacts with the environment. Recent decisions concerning the management of wildlife in and around Yellowstone National Park provide an example of idealized cultural perception of the so-called natural world, the socio-political aesthetic that impacts how we treat and react to the environment. The effective application of paleozoological data in determining species composition for management of the YNP can provide an understanding of environment apart from its value system and change the way in which conservation is shaped and focused.