New Study: Why Do Men And Women Walk Differently? The Answer May Lie With The Neanderthals

A new study by the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University proposes a new explanation for why men and women walk differently, based on a comparison between Neanderthal and modern human pelves. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was led by Prof. Yoel Rak in collaboration with researchers from Spain, the Technion, Bar-Ilan University and Ono Academic College.

The research compared two nearly complete male Neanderthal pelves, one from Kebara Cave in Israel and the other from Sima de los Huesos in Spain, with dozens of modern human pelves. The researchers found that, contrary to decades of assumption, it is the modern human male pelvis that represents the unusual structure, not the Neanderthal pelvis, which more closely resembles that of modern human females.