Cetacean Hips Don’t Lie
Photo credit: Wikimedia
*Cute latin music*
Not long ago scientists thought that the pelvic (or hip) bones of whales and dolphins weren’t being used and, through evolution, would eventually disappear.
Recent studies have shown that this is not the case at all. Actually, it’s close to the opposite!
For the past four years Matt Dean of the University of Southern California and Jim Dines of the National History Museum have been sorting through boxes of cetacean skeletons to discover this truth.
Cetaceans are known as more promiscuous creatures and females do not limit themselves to having only one mate. That being said, the sexual arena becomes a lot more competitive for the males.
Past studies have shown that the more competitive the playing field, the larger the males’ reproductive organs will be. New research, conducted by Dean and Dines, has proven that the male reproductive organs in cetaceans are controlled by tissues connected directly to the pelvic bone.
The team used 3D laser scanning to create digital images of the bones that allowed them to analyze the size and curvature of the bones like never before. This technology aided in the discovery that a once thought useless part of whale and dolphin skeletons actually plays a major role in their procreation and future as a species.
Therefore, we can definitely say that their hips are being put to good use!
