The Mbuti Pygmies in the Ituri Forest The Mbuti Pygmies in the Ituri Forest in Central Africa are gatherers who use a combination of foraging, net hunters and archers. Their kinship, social organization and gender relations make them a unique band. Even though they live in the rainforest of equatorial Africa with very few possessions, they are happy and peaceful people. Pygmies are small individuals who typically stand less than five feet tall. The Mbuti have lived in the Ituri forest for many thousands of years. They live among the tall, green trees of the rainforest with its dense undergrowth. Trees provide protection from several elements that can cause terminal diseases. “The main health danger for the Mbuti is respiratory problems: humidity averages 95% throughout the year. Torrential rain falls almost every afternoon. (Turnbull, 1985) They have the bare minimum for survival. The Mbuti hunt and gather in the northeastern corner of central Africa's great equatorial rainforest. The canopy is about 150 feet above the forest floor, barring all direct sunlight except where rivers run through the forest, where there are salt licks or where farmers from immigrant villages have cut down their plantations. Under the canopy, as a result, the temperature barely fluctuates and is always comfortable, dropping as low as 70 degrees at night, and rarely exceeding 80 degrees during the day. (Turnbull, 1985) Their food consists of "elephants, hippos, buffaloes, okapi, bongos, feral pigs, yellow-backed duikers, chimpanzees, baboons, Perter's duikers, Gabon duikers, black-fronted duikers, chevrotains, mangabeys, red colobus, Abyssinian colobus, Angolan colobus, blue duiker, blue monkey, red-tailed monkey, Bate's pygmy antelope, mo...... middle of paper...... and social organization. 4), 896-913. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/677863Nowak, B., & Laird, P. (2010). Case Study 3.5 Mbuti Molimo Ritual, par. 1). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUANT101.10.2/sections/ch00Roscoe, P. (1993, March). The network and the arch in the ituri. American anthropologist, 95 (1), 153-154 sharing economy: there is no place for selfish individualism in nomadic hunter-gatherer societies. UNESCO Courier, R2 (RN A20355193) (3), 23. Retrieved from http://infotrac-college.cengage.com/itw/infomark/333/797/166533649w16/purl=rc1_WAD_0_A20355193&dyn=9!xrn_2_0_A20355193?sw_aep=ol r_ wad