A new study has revealed that men developed navigation skills better than women in order to seek mates.
A University of Utah study of two African tribes found evidence that men evolved better navigation ability than women because men with better spatial skills, the ability to mentally manipulate objects, can roam farther and have children with more mates.
Layne Vashro, a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology, said that it's the first time anybody has tried to draw a line between spatial ability, navigation, range size and reproductive success, as most of this chain has been assumed in the scientific literature.
There has been a demonstrated relationship between sex differences in how far some mammals, including voles and deer mice, range or travel, and sex differences in their spatial and navigation abilities, but until now, little has been known about this relationship in humans, he further added.
The researchers concluded that these findings offer strong support for the relationship between sex differences in spatial ability and ranging behavior, and identify male mating competition as a possible selective pressure shaping this pattern.
The study is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.