awkwardsituationist:fourty meters up, and surrounded by angry bees pacified by the smoking wet leave
awkwardsituationist:fourty meters up, and surrounded by angry bees pacified by the smoking wet leaves he carries, mongonjay, a member of the bayaka tribe of the jungles of the central african republic, hunts for honey suspended by fraying vine. “when climbing big trees, you have to empty your heart of fear,” he says. “if you have fear you will die. many of my friends have died doing this." bayakan fathers like mongonjay are considered “the greatest dads in the world,” and not just because they risk life and limb to provide their families with honey. bayakan fathers cuddle and play with their kids five times as often as fathers from any other society, and spend almost half their time within arms reach of their kids.when the mother is not present, bayaka fathers will soothe their hungry, crying babies by having them suckle on their nipples until she can return. most male mammals do not have nipples, and some evolutionary biologists believe that human males have retained theirs for this very reason. seriously. many anthropologists believe this nurturing fatherly behaviour was once the norm for humans. the bayaka, however, now face extinction as forty years of excessive industrial logging has forced most to abandon the sustaining forest they’ve called home for thousands of years and replace it with a life of poverty and disease (particularity malaria and cholera) where they are viewed as “not truly human, a people without civilization” by most across equatorial africa. they suffer “appalling socioeconomic conditions and a lack of civil and land rights,” states a recent study conducted by the rainforest foundation. according to the WWF, it would only take $2 million to secure enough rainforest for future generations of bayaka to retain their traditional lifestyle. photos by timothy allen for the bbc documentary human planet. video of the climbing scene can be seen here. this is a short documentary and an article from smithsonian magazine chronicling their plight. -- source link
#culture#the world#psa#anthropology#this