Nice outfit, dear HOW the peacock got his tail is one of natural history's "Just So" stories that biologists like to think they have cracked. His tail is for showing off to the ladies just how fit he and his genes are. A less-than-perfect tail means no offspring. Genes for spectacular male tails are thus preserved and promoted over the generations in a process that is called sexual selection. There is, though, a problem with this story. Peahens, though not as showy as cocks, are by no means dowd...
Nice outfit, dear HOW the peacock got his tail is one of natural history's "Just So" stories that biologists like to think they have cracked. His tail is for showing off to the ladies just how fit he and his genes are. A less-than-perfect tail means no offspring. Genes for spectacular male tails are thus preserved and promoted over the generations in a process that is called sexual selection. There is, though, a problem with this story. Peahens, though not as showy as cocks, are by no means dowd...
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