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Updated: Oct 23, 2025

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The loss of the 'pelvic step' in human evolution.

Nathan E Thompson1, Danielle Rubinstein2, William Parrella-O'Donnell3

  • 1Department of Anatomy, NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568,USA.

The Journal of Experimental Biology
|August 19, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Human bipedalism has shorter strides than primates due to a smaller pelvic step. Pelvic rotation significantly impacts stride length, with humans exhibiting less rotation than chimpanzees during bipedal locomotion.

Keywords:
BipedalChimpanzeeHomininLocomotionStride length

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Area of Science:

  • Biomechanics
  • Primate locomotion
  • Human evolution

Background:

  • Human bipedalism is characterized by shorter strides compared to facultative primate bipedalism.
  • Non-sagittal plane motions, such as pelvic rotation, may influence stride length differences.
  • The 'pelvic step', resulting from anterior pelvic translation, contributes to stride length.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the pelvic step and stride length between humans and bipedal chimpanzees.
  • To quantify the contribution of pelvic rotation to stride length differences.
  • To investigate the evolutionary implications for hominin locomotion.

Main Methods:

  • Collected kinematic data on the pelvic step during human walking across various speeds.
  • Recorded pelvic step data for bipedal chimpanzees.
  • Analyzed and compared dimensionless stride length and pelvic step between species at matched dimensionless speeds.

Main Results:

  • At matched dimensionless speeds, human strides were 26.7% shorter than bipedal chimpanzees.
  • The human pelvic step was 5.4 times smaller than that of bipedal chimpanzees.
  • Pelvic rotation differences accounted for 31.8% of the variation in dimensionless stride length between humans and chimpanzees.

Conclusions:

  • Pelvic rotation and the associated pelvic step are significantly smaller in humans compared to bipedal chimpanzees.
  • These differences in pelvic mechanics likely contribute to the shorter stride length observed in human bipedalism.
  • Evolutionary reductions in stride length and pelvic step may be key adaptations in hominin evolution.