In the forest filled with lush green trees, there are small huts made of leaves and branches, which is where the Pygmy tribes live in harmony with nature. They live separately and make the outside world always feel curious about these people with an average height of less than 1.55m.
Previously in Europe, when the explorers had not really been exposed and learned about them, there were always rumors that they were not humans like us, but rather a tribe of creatures. half human half animal.
Pygmies, also known as dwarves, are peoples, ethnic groups possessing unusually short height; Anthropologists define a pygmy as a member of an ethnic group as the average adult male height less than 155 cm.
But from 1865 – 1870, a French, Belgian and American explorer and a German botanist went to Africa to confirm the existence of this tribe and they became the the first in modern history of the outside world to come into contact with the Pygmies.
This race of dwarves shares the same race as modern humans.
Later scientists confirmed that this dwarves share a common race with modern humans, but the biggest question remains unanswered, while the Aborigines of Africa are all outstandingly tall, why are they so short?
And it wasn’t until 150 years after their first meeting that biologists finally solved this mystery.
In central Africa, the Pygmies are also known as Negrillo.
The first discovery was in 2009, a French graduate student – Noemie Becker wrote a doctoral thesis on population genetics and studied the composition of the Pygmy tribe genome and found out how they differ from each other. with other indigenous tribes of Africa.
Previously, scientists thought that the Pygmies possessed such a modest body because they often lived in dense forests, where low light conditions lead to vitamin D deficiency and limited calcium absorption from the diet. drink. The lack of calcium and iodine in the diet is also one of the reasons for the Pygmy’s height restriction.
Despite having a small body, the Pygmies develop physiologically very early. Only 8 years old, Pygmy girls and boys have developed adult bodies and can get married. By the age of 9, Pygmy boys and girls can become parents.
Over the generations, these Pygmies have gradually lived next to the taller Bantu Aboriginal people, and the phenomenon of people of the two tribes getting married.
But Noemie Becker did not think so and conducted a study of the hybrids of the two tribes and discovered, among them, there are people that exist 100% of the Pygmy genome or 100% of the Bandu genome, in addition to that. There are also people who carry the genes of both tribes.
Bandu people.
Noemi Becker found that people with a low percentage of the Pygmies genome were taller and taller, and this is a scientific proof to prove that the Pygmies were not at all modest. It’s not because of the environment or the eating conditions, what makes them possible is the genetics in the body.
In other words, a Pygmie born and raised outside the tribe will still be short in stature, similar to members of their tribe.
During the past 8,000 years their way of life has remained virtually unchanged.
Experts have also discovered that the Pygmies possess a gene in the body that helps strengthen the immune system and fight off infections often encountered during hunting in the tropical rain.
In addition, in central Africa, the Pygmies also have another name called Negrillo , the men in the tribe are often tasked with hunting, while the women will stay to take care of the children and gather various kinds of animals. berries and leaves in the forest.
The sad thing is that the Pygmies are in danger of extinction, because their average life expectancy is often very short, only about 30 years old, and they have been married since the age of 8. Historically, the Pygmies have always been considered. is lowly due to his modest height. The colonial government and surrounding tribes were able to capture Pygmy children for trade or use as slaves in the plantations.
The Pygmy tribe only hunted enough to last for a month at a time, they absolutely did not hunt young or cut down forest trees.
What’s more frightening, there are a few other tribes who always consider the Pygmy people as prey, they consider the meat of these dwarves to be the elixir that can cure many different diseases, especially the genitals of the Pygmy people. , they believe that eating them will help increase physical strength and strength.
Up to now, the Pygmies still have no concept of private property as well as the right to privacy, all property is under the common ownership of the whole tribe and the genealogy is based on the father’s bloodline instead of matrilineal like the tribes. have a similar lifestyle.
This type of “spanking” is part of the boys’ coming of age ritual. After the end, these boys are considered to have truly become adults. They can get married, have children, and truly become the head of the family. The whip is impregnated with a resin, to help harden the scars of post-ritual wounds, which is also a natural defense to allow hunters to move freely in the area. forest.
Now, Central African governments have taken steps to help them change their way of life, get out of the woods and into modern society.
However, the majority of Pygmies still stick to the way of life of their ancestors and prefer to continue living a closed primitive life.