Nomads and hunters of the larger islands of Tierra del Fuego, the tall Selk'nam people fed on birds, guanacos, red foxes and cururos, complemented with marine products, such as shellfish and an occasional beached whale. This brought together the entire Selk´nam community and sometimes they shared with the Yagán people.
In 1881, modern colonization of the island began: the white man came in search of the Austral gold. Later there were large investments destined to livestock raising in Patagonia. They promoted the extermination of the Selk´nam people, a culture that knew nothing of private property and did not recognize it as such; therefore they considered it natural for them to hunt sheep.
For this reason the gold hunters and livestock barons paid for a special kind of hunters, human hunters who killed natives: the mercenaties were paid by presenting a pair of testicles.