This article was written by Markham Heid and provided by our partners at Men's Health.

It's no secret that many men love a full tush—but why? It may be because women with curvy behinds made better nomadic child-bearers back in the day, according a new study from the University of Texas.

You’ve probably never thought about "lumbar curvature" or "vertebral wedging." But the study authors have. And their research shows men tend to go gaga over a woman with the type of spine curvature that makes her butt seem to pop out or protrude.

RELATED: The Crazy Thing Horny Women Do

If you're like the average man, you're especially attracted to a woman with a spine that curves roughly 45 degrees above the top of her butt, the research shows. "This degree of curvature would have enabled ancestral women to shift their center of mass back over their hips during pregnancy," says study coauthor David M.G. Lewis, Ph.D.

Back in hunter-gatherer times, human beings were constantly on the move. Staying still was a death sentence. So women who could keep walking long distances even while very pregnant had an advantage in terms of reproduction and survival.

RELATED: The Best Things to Say Before, During, and After Sex

Lewis says a 45-degree lumbar curvature allows a woman to carry the weight of her unborn baby in a way that makes her less vulnerable to spinal injuries than women with more or less curvature. Thousands of years ago, this would have helped her to keep moving and foraging during the later stages of pregnancy—a huge plus, says Lewis.

Apparently, modern man hasn't lost his taste for curvaceous, baby-bearing derrieres—at least according to this research.

RELATED: Track Your Calorie Burn—During Sex!

Men's Health Got a Question about health, fitness, grooming, sex, work, travel, nutrition, or any other subject we cover in Men's Health?

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io