Scientists have concluded that tribes composed of Pygmy hunters and gatherers are short in stature due to genetics and not malnutrition.

Their shortness is believed to have been a result of their adaptation to their environment and hunter-gatherer lifestyle, said researchers from the Luis Barreiro Lab, an institution located in Montreal, Canada that aims to better understand how natural selection has contributed to the evolution of the human species, and to which extent past selection events impact present-day susceptibility to disease.

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Luis Barreiro Lab has long been studying the Batwa and Baka People that have made the Central African rainforest their home. They said the men in these tribes are barely five feet tall and have remained short statured throughout the years.

Despite other populations in the area taking up agriculture, the Pygmy tribes continue to focus their attention on hunting and gathering.

Some scientists believe their shortness is a mere consequence of undernourishment, which members of the tribe experience even from childbirth.

Undernourishment is caused by the lack of edible resources in the rainforest and the difficulty of hunting animals in a very dense environment.

Because food is so scarce, Pygmy tribes are prompted to conserve food, which some researchers believe may have resulted in their limited growth potential.

Other researchers who studied the Batwa and Baka tribes, however, believe that genetics and not undernourishment caused the population's short stature.

These researchers identified noticeable shifts in the part of their human genome known to affect human growth hormones.

What's even more interesting is that the mutation in the Batwa and Baka tribes was different. This means the genetic shifts in both tribes developed independent of each other.

"We have found the strongest evidence yet that the pygmy phenotype is controlled by genetics," said Luis Barreiro of the University of Montreal and senior author of the study.

Barreiro stated the groups found their short statures beneficial because it helped them adapt to their difficult environment. Their genes had actually gone through a process known as "convergent evolution."

Being short allowed the tribe members to require less food and expend less energy while trudging through the forest.