It is easy to focus on the aftermath of a hunt—an event concluded with death and consumption; an aggressive act of destruction, dismemberment, and digestion. Despite his visceral actions, the successful hunter is often aided in his pursuit by his respect for the intelligence and abilities of his prey. Anthropologist Lev Sternberg writes of the Gilyak fisher-foragers of Siberia that, "Every animal is in point of fact a real being like a man, nay a Gilyak such as himself, but endowed with reason and strength which often surpasses those of man.” Anthropologist George Silberbauer gives a detailed discussion of perceptions of animal intelligence and behavior among the G/wi foragers of the Kalahari, writing that,

animal behavior is perceived as rational and purposive and directed by motives based on values that are either held by the G/wi themselves or by other peoples known to them or are negations of such values. The motivational and value systems of animals are not isomorphic in all respects with G/wi and other human systems but are empathetically modified to fit the perceived circumstances of the animals themselves. Each species is credited with characteristic behavior, which is governed by its kxodzi (customs), and each has its particular kxwisa (speech, language). Protocooperating (i.e., mutually beneficial) species and even some that are hostile to one another can understand one another's language, and some animals can even understand a certain amount of G/wi. Man, too, can understand a limited amount of the speech of some species, for example, the alarm cries of birds. Baboons, the most versatile of animal polyglots, eavesdrop on G/wi hunters and pass on the plans of the hunters to the intended prey animals. This is not altruism but is caused by the baboons' legendary love of trickery and teasing.

The special capabilities of some animals are believed to have been arrived at by rational thought and then institutionalized as elements of the species' kxodzi (customs) after having been passed on by the discoverers or inventors in that population. (For instance, the ability of the penduline tit, Anthoscopus minutus, to manufacture feltlike nesting material from the awns of grasses.) Such capabilities are compared with those that man has developed in the process of devising means of meeting environmental pressures. Some species possess knowledge that transcends that of man; the bateleur eagle, Terathopius ecaudatus, for instance, knows when a hunter is to be successful and hovers above him, thus acting as an omen of sure success (but not, apparently, as a warning to the prey). Several animals are believed to be able to foretell the extent of wet-season rains and the location of the best falls and to plan their annual behavior cycle accordingly. These animals are seen as having rather critical limits of tolerable error. If they are to reproduce successfully, they must time their activities to gain the greatest benefit from the rains when they do come. They are believed to have a more sensitive perception of how the rains are developing and can thus furnish the discerning observer with more accurate information than his own less finely tuned senses can gather. The duiker, Sylvicapra grimmia, practices sorcery against his animal enemies and even against conspecific rivals, and some steenbok, Raphicerus campestris, are thought to possess a magical means of protecting themselves from a hunter's arrows.

Name taboos associated with animals, particularly those sought as prey, are not uncommon across forager societies. Of the Batek of Malaysia, anthropologist Lye Tuck-Po writes that, “the name of the animal being hunted cannot be uttered from the start to the end of a hunt. Before the kill, uttering the name will alert the prey to its oncoming fate. After the kill, uttering the name might provoke revenge, or show disrespect to the animal,” while among the Tlingit foragers of Alaska, missionary Livingston French Jones writes that,

It is believed that all animals understand human speech. For this reason natives are careful what they say about them not only in their presence, but at any time; for they have some mysterious way of hearing all said about them, and if evil or boastful things are said, the creature maligned is sure to take offence, and in time will surely harm the speaker. A young man who was subject to epileptic fits, while in one of them fell off the deck of a boat and was drowned. It was said that when he was a child he spoke unkindly to some little fishes, and this was his punishment for it. A young man swore at some mountain sheep which he was hunting because they were in a difficult place to reach. In his effort to reach them a snowslide came down and buried him and he perished. The natives believe that he met with this death because he was disrespectful to the sheep.

Rituals and norms of conduct associated with the hunt can attest to the healthy respect and sense of dignity accorded animals by the hunter. Among the Guayaki-Ache hunter-gatherers of the Amazon, anthropologist Pierre Clastres writes,

As for the animals, there are certain rules of courtesy to be observed toward them. When the hunter kills them, he must also salute them; he arrives in the camp, his game hanging over his shoulder, which is nobly spotted with blood, and he puts it down and sings in its honor. In this way, the animal is not simply a neutral piece of food; if it were reduced to that, the other members of its species might get angry and not allow themselves to be shot anymore. Hunting is not simply a matter of killing animals; you owe them something, and this debt is paid when you bring the animals you have killed back to life by talking about them. You thank them for letting themselves be killed, but their common names are never mentioned. So that brevi, tapir, is called morangi, and kande, the little peccary, is called barugi. You have to be sly with the animals, you must pretend to be talking about someone else; by fooling the game this way, you somehow annul man's aggressiveness and wipe out the fatal act. The hunter's chanting seals the secret agreement between men and animals. The kybuchu are also taught this: to live in the forest one must avoid excess and respect the unity of the world in order to make sure it continues to be generous.

This reference to “man’s aggressiveness” and “the secret agreement between men and animals” dovetail with accounts of male secrecy and rituals oriented around hunting found in some forager societies. Anthropologist Lorna Marshall writes that, “!Kung society accords the hunt great importance and, for the !Kung, hunting is entirely a male affair. Women are wholly excluded from hunting and from taking part in the several hunting rituals that the men perform.”