Associations of physical strength with facial shape in an African pastoralist society, the Maasai of Northern Tanzania

PloS One
Marina L ButovskayaBernhard Fink

Abstract

Previous research has documented associations of physical strength and facial morphology predominantly in men of Western societies. Faces of strong men tend to be more robust, are rounder and have a prominent jawline compared with faces of weak men. Here, we investigate whether the morphometric patterns of strength-face relationships reported for members of industrialized societies can also be found in members of an African pastoralist society, the Maasai of Northern Tanzania. Handgrip strength (HGS) measures and facial photographs were collected from a sample of 185 men and 120 women of the Maasai in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. In young-adults (20-29 years; n = 95) and mid-adults (30-50 years; n = 114), we digitized 71 somatometric landmarks and semilandmarks to capture variation in facial morphology and performed shape regressions of landmark coordinates upon HGS. Results were visualized in the form of thin-plate plate spline deformation grids and geometric morphometric morphs. Individuals with higher HGS tended to have wider faces with a lower and broader forehead, a wider distance between the medial canthi of the eyes, a wider nose, fuller lips, and a larger, squarer lower facial outline compared with weaker individua...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 7, 2019·Biology Letters·Bernhard FinkTodd K Shackelford
Jul 1, 2020·American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council·Victoria V RostovtsevaMarina L Butovskaya
Nov 2, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Karel KleisnerRobert Mbe Akoko
Jan 9, 2022·Journal of Physiological Anthropology·Marina L ButovskayaAnna A Mezentseva

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