Bolas

For other uses, see Bolas (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Bolus.

Bola
A hunter using bolas while mounted on a horse.
Type	Throwing weapon
Place of origin	The Americas

A bolas (plural: bolas or bolases; from Spanish bola, "ball", also known as boleadoras) is a type of throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entangling their legs. Bolas were most famously used by the gauchos, but have been found in excavations of Pre-Columbian settlements, especially in Patagonia, where indigenous peoples (particularly the Tehuelche) used them to catch 200-pound guanacos and rheas. The Mapuche and the Inca army used them in battle. Mapuche warriors used bolas in their confrontations with the Chilean Army during the Occupation of Araucanía (1861–1883).

Use

River Plate Indians with Bolas (Hendrick Ottsen, 1603)

Gauchos used boleadoras to capture running cattle or game. Depending on the exact design, the thrower grasps the boleadora by one of the weights or by the nexus of the cords. The thrower gives the balls momentum by swinging them and then releases the boleadora. The weapon is usually used to entangle the animal's legs, but when thrown with enough force might even inflict damage (e.g. breaking a bone).

Traditionally, Inuit have used bolas to hunt birds, fouling the birds in air with the lines of the bola. People of a Feather showed Belcher Island Inuit using bolas to hunt eider ducks on the wing.

Design

Boleadoras

There is no uniform design; most bolas have two or three balls, but there are versions of up to eight or nine. Some bolas have balls of equal weight, others vary the knot and cord. Gauchos use bolas made of braided leather cords with wooden balls or small leather sacks full of stones at the ends of the cords.

Bolas can be named depending on the number of weights used:

• Perdida (one weight)
• Avestrucera or ñanducera (two weights, for rheas)
• Somai (two weights)
• Achico (three weights)
• Boleadora (three weights)
• Kiipooyaq (Inuit name for bolas with three or more weights)

Bolas of three weights are usually designed with two shorter cords with heavier weights, and one longer cord with a light weight. The heavier weights fly at the front parallel to each other, hit either side of the legs, and the lighter weight goes around, wrapping up the legs.

A group of gauchos hunting rheas with bolas in La Pampa, Argentina.

Other unrelated versions include qilumitautit, the bolas of the Inuit, made of sinew and bone weights and used to capture water birds.

Popular Culture

• The DC Comics franchises include Batman using bolas. They also include Green Arrow using bolas within some of his arrows.
• Some versions of Kraven the Hunter used bolas including on the 1994 version of Spider-Man and The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• On the 2009 film of Avatar, the Na'avi warriors use bolas.
• On Kangaroo Jack, Jessie helps Charlie and Louis construct their own aboriginal-style bolas and then trains them to throw and catch things with them, which eventually helps to capture Frankie.
• On Atomic Betty, Pontifidora the Conquistadora includes bolas among her arsenal.
• On the 2014 film of Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Lord uses energy bolas.
• On Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks use bolas.
• On the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Amok Time", the Vulcan weapon ahn-woon, consisting of a leather strip with weights at each end, is similar to bolas.
• On The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Dori uses a set of metal bolas

See also

• Arctic yo-yo
• Bolas spiders, which swing a sticky web blob at the end of a web line to capture prey
• Bolo tie, a style of necktie resembling the bolas in that it has weights at the end of a string
• Lasso or lariat, a looped rope used for similar purposes, especially in North America
• Meteor hammer and meteor (juggling)
• Poi
• Astrorope, a prototype of Crew Self Rescue (CSR) device for Extravehicular activity (EVA) in space flight – see Astronaut propulsion unit

External links

• Boleadoras