Humanities › Issues What is Cultural Carrying Capacity? Share Flipboard Email Print [Raimund Linke]/[Photodisc]/Getty Images Issues Animal Rights Hunting and Wildlife Management Animals In Entertainment Animals Used For Food The U. S. Government U.S. Foreign Policy U.S. Liberal Politics U.S. Conservative Politics Women's Issues Civil Liberties The Middle East Terrorism Race Relations Immigration Crime & Punishment Canadian Government View More By Doris Lin Animal Rights Attorney J.D., University of Southern California B.S., Applied Biological Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doris Lin is an animal rights attorney and the director of legal affairs for the Animal Protection League of New Jersey. our editorial process Doris Lin Updated March 20, 2017 Definition: Cultural carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals of a species that the human population will tolerate. The number may or may not be the same as the species' biological carrying capacity. Cultural carrying capacity depends on human attitudes towards a species, so it can be influenced by public education campaigns. Examples: Hunting proponents argue that the deer have not reached their biological carrying capacity, but have reached their cultural carrying capacity.