1) have their roots in prized food items, such as blueberries (Lu, 1987, 2003, 2018). Chenguang Lu suggests that the morphology and colour of the ‘eyes’ on Peacocks’ tails ( fig. The male Peacock displays beauty by mimicking a blueberry treeīirds’ pre-existing sensory preferences, biases, or tastes are often invoked to explain the origin of male features involved in mating success. While decades of research into sexual selection have demonstrated how traits continue to be sexually selected over time, none of the current mechanisms can explain the origins of the preferences for specific traits, nor do they explain the staggering diversity of features that we see in the natural world. Other researchers have developed theories based on “arm-race” or health to explain male birds’ beauty (Cronin, 1991), but were not successful. This fundamental difference in perspective formed a long-standing debate between Darwin, Wallace, and their supporters (Cronin, 1991). He explained that male fitness, not beauty, attracts female birds. He said that accepting beauty preferences selection was to add another principle to the principle of natural selection and hence, this would betray Darwinism. However, Darwin’s battle companion, Alfred Russell Wallace (1871, 1897), insisted that natural selection is the sole principle underlying birds’ appearance. Under this theory, the male Peacock’s unpractical tail could still make sense if it meant a male was more often chosen as a partner by Peahens. This theory is also referred to as the theory of beauty preference selection. One example is the beautiful but cumbersome tail of a male Peacock: surely, this tail was more of a hindrance than a help to survival if a male was suddenly ambushed by a tiger in a jungle.ĭarwin proposed that bird’s beautiful appearances could be better explained by the theory of ‘sexual selection’, whereby male birds’ characteristics were selected by female birds’ beauty preferences or tastes (Darwin, 1871). However, about 20% of birds’ appearances cannot be explained by this theory. According to this theory, we can explain most birds’ appearances by flight performance, species isolation, camouflage, and threat. This completes the link between beauty preference selection and natural selection and can explain the diversity of colours, shapes, and behaviours used in mating rituals.ĭarwin’s (1859) original theory of natural selection states that certain characteristics were selected by nature because they enabled an individual to better survive in a particular environment. First, nature or needing relationships selected female birds’ beauty preferences (or tastes), which later selected male birds’ beautiful features. Chenguang Lu, Associate Professor at Changsha University, suggests that male birds’ beautiful features are based on mimicry of essential food resources and environments. However, British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace strongly objected to this idea, saying it adds another principle to the principle of natural selection and hence betrays Darwinism. It was conceived as a companion to natural selection to help explain birds’ colourful plumage and behaviours for beauty. The core idea of Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection is beauty preference selection.
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