Africa remains a continent full of secrets and mysteries. It would seem that in our time they should not have remained, but almost every day in the African expanses something is found that amazes scientists. One of these phenomena is the tribe of the so-called ostrich people. Initially, references to them were found in other tribes, and it was believed that ostrich people are some fictional, folk characters.
This opinion was also confirmed by the fact that various witchcraft abilities and skills were attributed to the mysterious tribe. Nevertheless, from time to time, researchers found unusual traces that, according to local residents, were left by ostrich people. The idea of their special nature came from the peculiarities of the structure of their legs: the feet of the people of this tribe look a little like ordinary human legs, they look more like crab claws or paws of ostriches, from where the tribe got its name.
They do not suffer from the so-called defecate in any way, they run splendidly and climb trees. The tribe of ostrich people is called the Vadoma. For the most part, they live in Zimbabwe and Botswana, away from other tribes. The reason for this may be the hostility that people felt towards them. However, such a foot structure is often found both in other parts of Africa and on other continents. The first mention of the Vadoma tribe came from a researcher from America, Paul du Chaillot.
In 1863, he wrote a book about his African travels, where, among other things, he described a tribe with only two toes on its feet. A genetic anomaly called “claw syndrome” is inherited. Nowadays, scientists believe that one of the reasons for its occurrence may be incest due to the small number of tribes. The Vadoma tribe has a strict rule according to which its men can only marry women of its own tribe. Sooner or later, in a community of only a few hundred people, this leads to some degree of incest.
However, in recent years, wadoms have increasingly begun to violate this rule and marry girls from other tribes. But even in these marriages, children with an abnormal foot appear. This indicates that the gene that determines the shape of the foot is dominant. According to another version, the deformation was originally caused by a virus that was brought into the tribe by a woman who came from other places and only later the mutation was fixed by incestuous marriages.
The Vadomas consider their feet to be a sign of special attention to them by higher forces and do not suffer at all from their features. Despite its seeming primitiveness, the tribe has an idea of human anatomy, and its doctors perform quite complex operations, requiring in our society the presence of an experienced surgeon who spent many years at a medical school. Various ointments and powders made by the healers of the tribe are no less effective.
