What Role Does Pelvis Play In Human Evolution

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Human pelvis plays a greater role when it comes to survival and existence of people. It allows locomotion and enables generation continuation by allowing babies to be born more comfortably. It has evolved over time, and its analysis is of great value to understand modern human beings. People fall in the same class of apes such as the chimpanzees, and it is believed that they evolved from one ancestor. Evolution however, took place when human beings started walking upright with two legs most likely because of the need to adapt to a new environment. Reduction in trees and growth of grassland areas led to the change to walk on two feet for survival. Bipedalism, which is the act of walking upright on two legs, forced humans to undergo many changes …show more content…
Evolution however tilted all its properties and descriptions since there was a need for change in posture to allow bipedalism in human beings. The Australopithecine pelvis in the transverse position as they walked which allowed a more forward movement of the lower limb as the bone rotated. The difference in stride length is a clear indication of the magnitude of the pelvic rotation. There is a closer relationship between the length of a lower limb and variables that allow locomotion variables such as stride length, speed and pelvic rotation in modern humans (Gruss and Schmitt, pp.6). It is evident that when people with short legs like the Australopithecus walk faster, there is more pelvic rotation which increases the stride length. Due to the broader pelvises of women, they tend to have a longer stride as compared to their leg length when walking than men do. In Australopithecus, the sacrum is shaped in a posterior position as compared with other apes. The birth canal in early hominins is also platypellic in shape and this point to the fact that the widening of the birth canal led to the reduction in functional performance of the pelvis in allowing bipedal movements. We can conclude that the Australopithecine had better walking mechanisms as compared to the present human beings (Gruss and Schmitt,