U. S. researchers have suggested that mating among our human ancestors involved competition among men, not male/female attraction.

Many researchers have thought human sexual selection was based on a person's attractiveness, David A. Puts, an assistant professor of biological anthropology at Pennsylvania State University said.

Published in the Evolution and Human Behavior, the study found that it appears physical competition among males was more important than physical attractiveness.

Puts further says that traits indicate physical prowess was the major force in human mate competition, men are far more aggressive than women and about 30 percent of men in small-scale foraging communities die violently. Other male traits imply competition. Males have thicker jawbones, with fighting results in the thickest-boned men surviving. Competition among men may explain why males have more robust skulls and brow ridges than women.

It has also been explained by Puts that, Humans and chimpanzees create male coalitions to help defend females from other males, but when external threats are absent these same males can compete with each other for mates.

The findings are similar to the studies of mating in apes. In apes, male competition determines mate access with the winning male choosing the women of his dreams, Puts further added. (With Inputs from Agencies)