Pygmies are known to be some of the smallest people in the world. The men grow to be about four feet, eight inches tall and the women are usually about two inches shorter. Their small size makes them able to move through tangled forest vegetation of the rain forest and climb trees easily. They have reddish skin and tightly curled brown hair. Most have round heads, flat, broad noses, long arms, and short legs. Some scientists think of Pygmies as belonging to the African race but others think of them as a separate race. Some pygmies live in groups of 150,000. It is said that they once made their homes in Central Africa, but now they also live in the tropical rain forests of Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, and Zaire.
     Pygmies hunt in groups and about two out of every three times they hunt, they bring home meat. Men hunt antelope, birds, buffalo, elephants, monkeys and other animals. To get the animals, they use nets, spears, and small bows with poisoned arrows. During the prime hunting season, they move from site to site. The women gather fruits and vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, and roots.
   The Efe collect honey in very special ways.The men go out into the forest in the right season and take their honey whistles with them. The whistles make a certain noise that attracts bees and lures them from their hives. Then the men can climb up the trees and get the honey without getting hurt.
    The Efe build their homes on gentle rises during the wet season because the rise drains some of the water. They build their homes by driving saplings into the ground which they bend. They weave branches to form a domed top, then they shingle their homes with mango leaves. The outsides of their homes look like leafy igloos. The entrances are little more than crawl ways. They allow only a little light to pass through. At night a fire glows in the hut.
   Efe pygmies have always been known as the original inhabitants of the African rain forest. They  hunt and gather and have been for generations. They are well adapted to the rain forest and most of their food comes from there. They use its products for trading for food and labor. It is unlikely they could live without the forest.
   The rain forest does not have the resources for a lot of plants to grow for a long period of time. Africans are looking for a place to grow plants and raise cattle. Every day people are cutting down trees. If areas are not preserved, the Efe pygmies will all die out!