The bony symphyseal surface is an important trait for age-at-death estimation from human skeletal remains. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time that the outline of the human symphyseal surface is sexually dimorphic and that it changes …
Pelvic dimensions differ, on average, among modern human populations. Some recent studies have reported that population differences in pelvic form evolved mainly by neutral processes, without considerable natural selection. This is a surprising claim …
Age-at-death estimation from skeletal remains typically utilizes the roughness of pubic symphysis articular surfaces. This study presents a new quantitative method adapting a tool from geometric morphometrics, bandpass filtering of partial warp …
Birds host a wide range of ectoparasites and have developed behavioural strategies to combat them, such as preening, dust bathing and water bathing. In addition, a wide range of avian taxa anoint their feathers with insects or plants that have …
It is commonly assumed that the strong sexual dimorphism of the human pelvis evolved for delivering the relatively large human foetuses. Here we compare pelvic sex differences across modern humans and chimpanzees using a comprehensive geo- metric …
Sexual dimorphism in the human pelvis has evolved in response to several jointly acting selection regimes that result from the pelvis’ multiple roles in locomotion and childbirth, among others. Because human males are, on average, taller than …
Recently, we presented the “cliff-edge model” (1) to explain why natural selection has not reduced the high rates of fetopelvic disproportion (FPD) in childbirth. This evolutionary model predicts that birth-relevant anatomical dimensions have changed …
The strikingly high incidence of obstructed labor due to the disproportion of fetal size and the mother’s pelvic dimensions has puzzled evolutionary scientists for decades. Here we propose that these high rates are a direct consequence of the …
In their interesting article, Huseynov et al. (1) propose the “developmental obstetric dilemma (DOD) hypothesis,” which posits that human pelvic morphology reflects the changing obstetric needs during a female’s lifetime. In particular, the authors …