Online news service E1 in Yekaterinburg has been investigating if it is true that people from the Urals and further east have lower bottoms. Picture: E1

The issue has been the subject of conjecture for a long time, but now reports say the low slung bum it is not myth but reality.

Online news service E1 in Yekaterinburg has been investigating if it is true that people from the Urals and further east have lower bottoms.

Vladimir Ryzhkin, Chief Physiotherapist of Sverdlovsk region, explained: 'Yes, we see this visual contrast. It is due to genetics - the people with a 'Urals' type of figure have the characteristics of the Finno-Ugric group.

'There are features that are typical of Mansi groups like the short neck. And we have much of the Mansi blood'. Picture: E1

'Genetically, we are very different from Europeans, not only by appearance. For example, if we talk about organ transplants, it is very rare that our bodies are suitable for Europeans.

'There are features that are typical of Mansi groups like the short neck. And we have much of the Mansi blood.

'The 'Low bottom' is, of course, determined by genetics.'

Nikita Baranov, a Urals fashion designer, said: 'I work with clients from the Urals, so I can not make an objective comparison, but I can still see some common features. What you call a low bottom, we call a 'bottom type' body.

'If we imagine that the body shape as an hourglass, then the chest, the upper part is smaller than the hips, the bottom part. And yes, it is the type of shape that dominates'.

'Experts and fashion gurus say our women have lower bottoms than others - because of the cold'. Picture: Geometria

The director of the Institute of the Problems of the Development of the North, Anatoliy Bagashev, said: 'All mankind is divided into three types of people according to proportions: dolichomorphic type when the torso is much shorter compared to the length of the arms and legs, brachymorphic type with shorter legs and arms in comparison to the length of the torso, and mesomorphic type which doesn't have the difference between the lower and upper part of the body.

'People in the Urals, especially the part that is closer to Tyumen (in Siberia) mostly have a mixed meso-brachymorphic type.

'This happened mainly because of to the local, indigenous, tribes like Khanty, Mansi, Turks, Komi. They are all meso-brachymorphic type. After over 400 years of contacts of the local tribes with the Russians, who came to this territory, there were created people with this special type of shape.'

Dmitry Razhev, the institute's senior research fellow, said: 'This feature does exist. Of course, it's often noticed when looking at our girls and women, who are visually different from, let's say, those in Moscow, although it is typical for men too. It is also observed not only among residents of the Urals, but also among the residents of Siberia. In addition, this type of figure is typical for any race who has been living in this area for a long time'.

He said: 'Mansi, Khanty and Finno-Ugric tribes have passed their particular features to the new inhabitants of the Urals and Siberia'.

But he insists it is not only genetics - or rather over thousands of years the harsh cold has led to an adaptation of the body shape.

Police patrol in Yekaterinburg, Urals. Picture: Vera Shul

'This is the impact of climate, of the long, long winters,' he said.

'For thousands of years, adapting to the cold weather, the population of indigenous people of our country has acquired the proportions of the figure that fit the best to the existing conditions - short legs compared to the body allow to save and store heat more efficiently.

'Take a look at Africans. Long legs, compared with the body, are needed particularly for better heat transfer'.