BEAUTY IN THE BEAST

There are few things more beautiful than birds.  It turns out that these “jewels of the sky” know they are beautiful too.  Biologically speaking, beauty influences who gets to mate.  The more beautiful the bird, the sexier the bird, and the more potential mates it can get.   Biologists call this “sexual selection”.  In the case of birds, it’s lady’s choice.  The females pick males that are pretty.  The females are generally drab in comparison.  This helps the females remain “camouflaged” when they are on the nest or tending to young.  Traditionally, it has been assumed that beauty tells you information about the health of the mate.   Fine ornaments require you to have “good genes” and enough energy (food) to produce the beauty you genetically inherited.  Ornaments are characteristics that do not have direct beneficial purposes (like a useful beak for eating seeds) but can help you get a mate (that sounds beneficial to me!).  Ornaments may be in the form of bird plumage, call, or awesome dance moves.  Sometimes these ornaments are so “decadent” that it is a wonder the critter can survive with the burden of it’s beauty.  Think of the male peacock.  That tail is gorgeous, but it is a detriment if being chased by a predator.  At least one biologist believes beauty in birds should be expected.  The diversity of birds is far greater than one would expect if beauty had a function.  For comparison, beaks are very functional and the shape/size of the beak influences what the bird can eat.  There isn’t as much diversity in beaks as there is in “beauty”.  Perhaps beauty is a novel, decadent, flamboyant, gene show and we get to pick from it what we want.  Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.  If you are up for a TedTalk on this subject visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=128-i8ulC7o