Question

Imagine that you are a forensic detective and you have been tasked with analyzing a complete skeleton. How might you go about determining if the skeleton is male or female? What characteristics would you look for?

Your answer must be at least 200 words in length.

Answer 1

There are many differences which enables one to easily distinguish between male and female skeleton. The pelvic cavity in male is narrow and has less space whereas the pelvic cavity is woman is wider and deeper, this difference is there due to the ability of the woman to give birth. The coccyx in male is less moveable whereas in the female it is more moveable. The male has a heavy and thick pelvis whereas the female has a light and thin pelvis. The endoskeleton in the male skeleton is larger and the bones are stronger due to stronger and larger muscle development whereas in female, the endoskeleton is slimmer and is comparatively weaker. The torso is generally shorter in male with longer legs whereas in female, the torso is longer with shorter legs. The sacrum in male is long, narrow and is concave shaped whereas in female the sacrum is short and almost flat. In male the obturator foramen is round in shape whereas in female the obturator foramen is oval shaped. The female skeleton would have the anterior superior iliac spine which are wide apart whereas in the male skeleton the anterior superior iliac spine is closer and narrower.