Mbuti pygmies are among some of the earliest inhabitants of Africa. Due to their lifestyle and location it is almost impossible to receive an official demographic census of Mbuti pygmies. It is estimated that there are between 250,000 and 600,000 Pygmies living in the DRCongo. Located in   Ituri rain forest  Mbuti women   are  living  in bands that range in size from 15-70 people depending largely on outside factors – hunting and trading. This population is rapidly decreasing as war,deforestation ....gradually destroy their way of life and culture along with their genetic uniqueness . While the term “Mbuti” represents the entire pygmy hunting and gathering groups of the Ituri forest there are four subgroups that differ in language and methods of hunting. Efe pygmies are bow hunters living in the northeastern Ituri. The Sua and Aka pygmies are net-hunting. Mbuti people  that live in the northwestern and northern forest savanna edges. They collect the bulk of their families in terms of food,firewood, medicinal plants, building materials,in the forest, however,they continue  to face  prejudice. Yet, the Sua and Aka have almost completely abandoned their traditional way of life and have merged with neighboring villages. The group referred to only as the Mbuti hunt with nets and live in the southern and central Ituri. They are viewed as the purest descendents to ancient pygmies.The Mbuti people have lived in the Ituri Forest for many thousands of years, and it is even speculated that they might be the earliest inhabitants of Africa. The first recorded reference to "pygmies" is in the story of an expedition to the area by Egyptians around 2500 B.C., where they referred to the Mbuti as "people of the trees" characterized by singing and dancing. By the time Homer and then Aristotle wrote about them, they were thought of more in mythical terms than as real people. In subsequent years, knowledge of the Mbuti decreased to the point of referring to them as subhuman monsters or creatures flying through the treetops. Despite ,in 19th century, when explorers traveling in the Congo encountered the Mbuti, that these myths were corrected ; the myth  about the Mbuti women still expose them  to rape  vis-à-vis to soldiers and others peoples. They claim that the rape of women Mbuti  cured them of back pain or gives them a power of invincibility  and believe that the Mbuti woman wears a magical power.