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How did human butts evolve to look that way?

An evolutionary anthropologist tackles the mystery of the butt

The anatomical structure that we generally think of as a "butt" is made up of adipose tissue (fat) sitting on top of our gluteal muscles, which are attached to the bony pelvis. The ilium has generally gotten shorter, broader, and more curved over time, which means our butt has been on a multi-million year journey to becoming the lyric inspiring piece of anatomy that it is today. While all of these changes sound pretty great, our peculiarly human arrangement of muscle and fat on our backsides comes with at least one major butt-related downside: a messier pooping situation than many other primates have.

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