3 ms·
Is it a net negative though? I would in fact wager the opposite. The tradeoff must be beneficial else natural selection would have culled them from the populati
by hokumguru 8y ago
Is it a net negative though? I would in fact wager the opposite. The tradeoff must be beneficial else natural selection would have culled them from the population.
I believe in this specific case, it is likely more difficult for males to attract females than avoid predators.
- klmr 8y agoTo start off, yes, the trait needs to provide a reproductive fitness benefit. The problem is runaway sexual selection [1]. The textbook example of that being the peacock plumage, which is subject to strong sexual selection, yet is a detriment to overall fitness (see link for more details). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisherian_runaway#Peacocks_and_sexual_dimorphism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisherian_runaway#Peacocks_and...
- posterboy 8y agoPlumage is mimicri and so on. The eye like patterns can scare and emulate size. The e tail does fiegn size and does not fall into the general visual bird pattern.