Language

• The Mbuti people speak a dialect of the local Bantu language
• The language is gender inclusive meaning that a specific term can be thought of as both male and female
• In mbuti language, the forest is regarded as both "father" and "mother"
• Do not have a writing system

Subsistence

• Hunting and Gathering is the main form of acquiring food
• Mbuti hunt with nets, traps (women and children), and bows & arrows (mainly men)
• Hunting is often a community effort
• Mbuti use their hunting skills to trade animals and other forest products with the local Bantu villagers for baskets, pots, metal goods, etc.
• Gather a large variety of  vegetaion : yams, honey, berries, roots, leaves, cola nuts, and other fruits
• Mbuti are a very cooperative group and work together for the good of all its members
• Bands of the Mbuti tribe construct small circular huts out of sticks and vines in a temporary camp in order to increase the amount of food collection

Kinship

• For the Mbuti people, kinship is a mechanism for expanding the social circle and defusing any possible concentration of power
• In Mbuti kinship systems, the maternal and paternal sides are treated equally
• For the Mbuti people, the issue of kinship is not very important beyond the nuclear family except when selecting a spouse
• Mbuti are not allowed to marry kin on their mother or father's side as far as the tribe elders can remember
• They have a linear kinship group that runs horizontally by age group, with each person identifying with one particular group