Pygmy

In a general sense the word pygmy can refer to any human or animal of unusually small size like the pygmy Hippopotamus. In humans, pygmy generally refers to a group whose adult males grow to less than 4 feet ll inches or 150 centimeters.

Certain groups like the Bushmen of southern Africa and the Negrito peoples of asia such as the Ilongot of the Philippine Islands are known as pygmies. Pygmies are smaller because in their early teens they do not experience the growth spurt normal in most other humans, Pygmies are notable in having the highest basal-metabolism rate in the world.

Ota Benga: The Pygmy on Display In a Zoo
During the world's fair of 1904 in St. Louis, pygmies were displayed to "be exhaustively scientific in"...the "demonstration of the stages of human evolution." At that time the pygmies were thought to be an example of a primitive race, which thankfully is not thought to be true today. The pygmys were then returned to Africa, but Ota Benga returned with Samuel Verner and wound up in the monkey house of the Bronx Zoological gardens in 1906. Many newspaper accounts document the display, and there were many comments about the usefulness of the exhibit in showing the evolution of man from monkey.

A storm of protest from African-American ministers eventually resulted in release of the pygmy from his cage. He wound up in Lynchburg, Virginia, improved his English and learned to read. When he discovered the prohibitive cost of a return trip to Africa, he committed suicide with a revolver in 1916. He was born in 1881, and so died at the age of 35.

Related References

 * Ota Benga: The Story of the Pygmy on Display in a Zoo by Jerry Bergman for Creation Research Society Quarterly Volume 30, Number 3, December 1993, 30:140-149.