The dwarves appear in various stories, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lilliput in Gulliver 's Travels, the Lord of the Rings, the dwarves in World of Warcraft, etc. wait.
But who would have thought that this race that should exist in the story actually exists in reality.
01 Dwarves in the Rainforest
In the 19th century, humans did not know much about the earth. At that time, the way to understand other parts of the world mainly relied on the exploration of adventurers.
In 1865, an explorer and a botanist accidentally discovered a magical tribe while exploring this unknown land in the tropical rain forest of central Africa.
The primitive people living in this tribe are very similar to the local black people in Africa. They are also like the primitive people commonly seen by explorers. They rarely wear no clothes and rely on hunting and gathering fruits in the forest for food.
After explorers and botanists stayed in the tribe for a period of time, they were surprised to find that the people in the entire tribe were very short. There were almost no people over 1.5 meters tall. The average height was about 1.2 meters, and only a few were very tall. Individual tall people can reach 1.4 meters, and their weight is generally under 50 kilograms..
Their existence is like the Lilliputian country in "Gulliver's Travels", which surprised explorers and botanists. With their publicity after returning home, this race soon attracted widespread attention around the world. Let people all over the world know about the existence of the dwarves.
Later, the people of this tribe were called Pygmies , and Pygmies also became synonymous with races less than 1.5 meters tall.
The appearance of Pygmies is very similar to that of black people. They have thick lips that turn outwards, flat noses, brown-black skin that makes their teeth particularly white, and curly hair. The only difference is that Pygmies are generally 1.5 in height. Under 1 meter, they are far less tall than black people.
However, although Pygmies and black people are similar in appearance, they are very different. Pygmies have a lean body, small hands and feet, a very uncoordinated big belly, and an egg-sized meat in the belly button. pimple.
Compared with other black tribes in Africa, the Pygmies have been severely discriminated against. In Congo , they are scolded locally. When a person has no brains, he will be called "Mabuti". In Swahili " Mabuti" means Pygmies.
Research by anthropologists has found that the Pygmies are the inheritors of the prehistoric Sanjia culture and one of the most primitive tribes living in the African tropical rainforest.
The Pygmies live in a harsh environment and live in primitive groups. A tribe is often composed of dozens of families. The number of people is usually around 200 to 300, which can help them resist attacks by wild beasts. We can also jointly maintain big operations.
02 The customs of the dwarves
The Pygmies' belief is the forest. They believe that the forest is their ancestors, so they worship the forest as a god, so the Pygmies also call themselves "sons of the forest."
There was once a Western expedition team. After learning about the Pygmies, they went to the tribe to observe them at close range. The Pygmies entertained them warmly at first, but when the expedition team cut down trees to set up camp, they were attacked. When it came to the violent expulsion of the Pygmies, they did not allow anyone to cut down the trees because they offended the beliefs in the Pygmies' hearts.
Although the Pygmies have learned to use fire to barbecue food, they never cut down trees for wood. They only pick up branches that fall on the ground and use them as fuel to make fires.
The men in the Pygmy tribe are basically naked. Only the women will look for leaves to cover their sensitive parts. Although they are backward, the Pygmies have had the concept of makeup for a long time. The women will collect brightly colored wild leaves from the wild. Fruits or leaves are crushed and mixed into milk for use as cosmetics.
Pygmies like to use bright colors to paint patterns on their faces to increase their beauty. At the same time, they also believe that these patterns can ward off evil spirits and bring them a happy and beautiful life.
Research by British scholar Linn shows that the average IQ of the Pygmies is only 54, while the average IQ of the East Asians with the highest IQ in the world is around 106, and those with an IQ below 60 are defined as idiots.
Although the Pygmies have low IQs, they have their own exclusive language and can also use fire and tools. However, they have no concept of time because they have no methods or tools to calculate time.
There is no class or discrimination in the Pygmy tribe, and there is no writing. They can only rely on their own unique language to communicate. To this day, the Pygmies still retain a centralized property system and do not own any private property. When it is time to eat, the eldest person in the tribe will distribute food.
In addition, they also have their own music. Although there are no lyrics, they will hum a unique tone. When humming, their bodies will also twist to the rhythm. This is the dance of the Pygmies.
Although the living environment is harsh, the Pygmies have extremely strong physical strength and energy, including various senses that far exceed those of other human races.
Not only do they have well-developed muscles, but their hearing, smell and vision are also extremely sensitive. When a bee flies over 10 meters away from the Pygmies, they can rely on their hearing to determine the type and gender of the bee.
Therefore, the Pygmies are natural hunters in the forest. The men like to hunt elephants together. It not only brings them enough food, but also gives them a sense of accomplishment. The women in the tribe serve as snake catchers and Fish mission.
The physical condition of the Pygmies is extremely suitable for hunting. At the same time, they have also learned to use various tools to make traps and weapons during their long evolution, which improves their hunting success rate.
For example, the Pygmies have discovered herbs that can make prey unconscious. When men go out to hunt, they often smear their homemade anesthetic on the tips of their weapons, and even on the nets used to capture beasts. Narcotics.
The residence of the Pygmie tribe is not fixed. They are constantly migrating throughout their lives. Whenever they catch a certain number of prey, they will go to the next forest to make their home.
The house in the center of the Pygmy tribe is the home of the tribe leader. It is the closest place to the tribal bonfire. It is usually built in a grand manner to highlight the status of the tribe leader.
03 The "love" of the dwarfs
What makes everyone feel magical is that the growth and development of the Pygmies is extremely fast. Their newborns will grow teeth when they are two months old, and they can speak when they are one year old. Communicate with the people around you and you can learn to walk in in four months.
htmlThe various body functions of the 18-year-old Pygmies have reached perfection and maturity, which is almost equivalent to our level when we are 20 years old. Rapid growth and development means that their life span is extremely short. The average age of death of the Pygmies is Around 35 years old.
Pygmies will reach sexual maturity around the age of 8 and stop growing at the age of 9, so they will start getting married and having children at the age of 8. But in this small tribe, they are more or less related by blood. Relationship, the backward Pygmies have the concept of inbreeding. Their intermarriage will be between the two tribes.
The marriage proposal ceremony of the Pygmies will be held at the bonfire party, with young people dancing around the fire. When a man falls in love with a woman, he will shoot a bone arrow made of beast bones into the woman's back. If he shoots If you hit two people, you will become a couple. If you don't hit, you need to choose someone else as your partner.
Although the Pygmie tribe is backward, they strictly adhere to monogamy. The moment they propose in their hearts, the man's sword has left a deep mark on the woman, which means that the two Individuals need to accompany each other throughout their lives.
Due to the harsh natural environment and insufficient food, the mortality rate of newborn infants among the Pygmies is as high as 70%. Even when they grow up, their life span is only about 35 years old. It is precisely because of these reasons that the Pygmies The Gemmi race is small in number.
For the survival and development of the tribe, female Pygmies are almost always pregnant and have children after getting married.
There was a team of explorers exploring the Pygmy tribe and personally attended the wedding of a 10-year-old girl.
On the wedding day, the women in the family knitted a grass skirt for the girl and wore it on the girl. Although the girl had a marriage partner, she had been living in the tribe since she was a child and was very unfamiliar with the person she was getting married to.
When the family was weaving the grass skirt, they continued to teach him experience and comfort him, and the knitted grass skirt became the girl's wedding dress. At the same time, the girl's family will put a straw cone made of hay at the door, which means that the bride is here.
After everything is ready, the girl's family is ready. The woman's dowry is the food she needs on the wedding day - cassava .
According to the local people, if there is no cassava, they will exchange it with other things, because the Pygmies have no currency, and they still use barter in daily life.
The man’s gift is also very unique. In addition to the animal skins, it must also include honey collected by the boy himself. In the forests where the Pygmie tribe lives, honey is usually found on 40-meter-high trees, which is also the most popular gift for the Pygmies. Favorite food.
According to their customs, in order to marry the girl he loves, a boy must climb a tree more than 40 meters high and personally pick honey to give to the girl. If he makes a mistake, he will definitely die. Once the boy dies, the girl can only Waiting for the next marriage partner to appear.
At the wedding, in addition to the families of both men and women, some foreigners will also be invited. These foreigners are not Pygmies, but people from other tribes. They are usually friends they met when exchanging items.
The wedding will be presided over by the patriarchs of the two tribes. After the patriarchs have finished blessing the couple, the two couples will meet. Apart from knowing that the other person is their marriage partner, they know nothing else.
The most important ceremony at the wedding is the blessing. Afterwards, each other feeds the meat to each other. When the other party eats the meat, it means that they agree with the marriage and cannot go back on it in this life.
If one party fails to eat the meat, it means the marriage has failed. This is also the special feature of Pygmy marriage.
Getting married does not mean that two people will succeed. Failure often occurs, which also gives women a chance to choose.
04 Why are Pygmies so short?
Since the day the Pygmies were discovered, experts from various countries have been studying the reasons for the short stature of the Pygmies. It was not until humans mastered the gene technology that this problem was completely solved.
French biologist Pasteur 's team finally found the answer to the question after a long period of research. They collected a total of 300 genetic fragments of African Pygmies and another 300 other Africans. Genetic fragments of primitive humans.
After comparison, it was found that the DNA fragment of chromosome 8 of the Pygmies is much larger than that of normal people, which is the gene fragment that leads to their short stature.
Because this gene is mainly used to regulate the TRPS1 gene, which is an important gene to ensure human bone development. Since the Pygmies lack the regulation of the TRPS1 gene, they cannot grow taller.
Although others are small, it does not mean that they have failed evolution, but are the result of natural selection.
Pygmies live in hot and humid tropical rain forests all year round. Heat dissipation is very important to them. Since the heat generated by the human body mainly depends on the volume, the heat dissipation depends on the surface area. According to the research of scientists, short Pygmies The heat dissipation ability of the Gemie people is far greater than that of other races.
In addition, the short Pygmies also carry a special gene in their bodies, which can help them resist the invasion of various viruses in the tropical rain forest. This is also a necessary factor for them to survive in the tropical rain forest.
05 The endangered Pygmies
The Pygmies are one of the races with the lowest IQ in the world. In addition, they are the primitive Africans living near them. Compared with African blacks, they are smaller in stature and more numerous. Few, Therefore, black Africans do not regard the dwarf Pygmies as humans, but only regard them as animals similar to orangutans.
Black people not only bully the Pygmies for a long time, they even hunt the Pygmies like animals. In some black tribes, some witch doctors claim that eating Pygmies can bring them great power.
With the support of various rumors, they continued to massacre the Pygmies. The number of Pygmies in the area dropped from 29,000 to 20,000.
Human beings on the earth are all descendants of Homo sapiens . Pygmies are also descendants of Homo sapiens. Although there are certain genetic differences, Pygmies are also humans and will not produce reproductive isolation. .
There have even been cases in history where Pygmies and black people gave birth to offspring, and due to the combination of genes, the height of the offspring increased.
The Pygmies are the oldest indigenous people in central Africa. Because they have never left the tropical rainforest, they are short in stature and culturally backward. However, the black people who left the rainforest and entered modernity early have massacred the indigenous people. It is really outrageous. .
The largest Pygmy tribe in history once numbered more than 100,000 people, but now there are less than 40,000 people left. There are only less than 600,000 Pygmies in Africa as a whole, and they are facing the risk of extinction.
References
[1] Zhi Ran. Entering the African "Dwarf Tribe" [J]. World Middle School Student Digest, 2005(12):59.
[2] An Youzhong. The Pygmies are on the verge of extinction as a dwarf tribe [J]. J]. Kehai Story Expo, 2003(23):57-60.
[3] Liu Mengxiong. Central African Pygman Dwarfs[J]. Scenic Spots, 2002(06):15-18.
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