Broader affinities of Yanomama are uncertain. According to the Ethnologue , up to 18,000 live in Venezuela and 11,000 in Brazil. The latter number in particular may be too large given the recent epidemics in that region. Villages in the lowlands tend to be larger than those in the highlands. Tropical forest horticulturalists, relying upon plantains supplemented by manioc, maize, and other cultigens and wild game.
Headman status is achieved based upon both kin ties and personal achievement.
Male descent groups, or patrilineages, are important in structuring activity, but are only traced back a few generations. Communities frequently fission into two daughter settlements when tensions between members get too great. Although they were originally taken as a classic case of indigenous warfare, more recent ethnographies have taken issue with this characterization. It appears that very different patterns occur in different parts of their range. In the lower-lying area of Venezuela documented by Chagnon, intercommunity raiding is endemic.