title: The Biomechanical and Energetic Advantages of a Mediolaterally Wide Pelvis in Women.
abstract: Here, we argue that two key shifts in thinking are required to more clearly understand the selection pressures shaping pelvis evolution in female hominins: (1) the primary locomotor mode of female hominins was loaded walking in the company of others, and (2) the periodic gait of human walking is most effectively explained as a biomechanically controlled process related to heel-strike collisions that is tuned for economy and stability by properly-timed motor inputs (a model called dynamic walking). In the light of these two frameworks, the evidence supports differences between female and male upper-pelvic morphology being the result of the unique reproductive role of female hominins, which involved moderately paced, loaded walking in groups. Anat Rec, 300:764-775, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.|Department of Biology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Cara M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wall-Scheffler
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, St. Catherine University, St. Paul Campus, St. Paul, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Marcella J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Myers
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010388:Pelvis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: dynamic walking; load carrying; obstetrical dilemma; pelvis; sexual dimorphism