The differential development of the hominid pelvis

The peculiarly shaped hominid pelvis represents the total response to the diverse forces which have moulded its structure, these being requirements for efficient bipedalism and parturition. In some respects the structural requirements of these unrelated functions have been in conflict. In these instances the morphological response to the dominant requirement, viz. bipedalism, is clearly discernible, while the changes subserving the needs of parturition are seen as compensatory modifications, the greater emphasis of which is responsible, in part, for pelvic sexual dimorphism in the female. Total pelvic architecture is thus a mosaic constituted by the aggregate of differential responses to different functional goals.