Initially the peacock’s train, showy and cumbersome, seemed to contradict his grand theory of natural selection—that animals succeed or fail based on their adaptive traits.

To better understand the role that peacock tail feathers play in sexual selection, scientists have turned their attention to a tail-shaking move known as "train-rattling." ...

The exaggerated tail of the (male) peacock compared to the shorter tail of the (female) peahen, indicates that males are under stronger sexual selection than females (Figure 1a).

This doesn’t necessarily preclude the natural selection of males who can give the impression of powerful displays, while exploiting natural resonance to exert the least effort in doing so.

The peacock’s tail gave Darwin fits. At first, it seemed to fly in the face of his theory of natural selection. How could evolution possibly favor such cumbersome and conspicuous accoutrement?

Natural selection can reverse evolution that occurs through sexual selection and this can lead to better females, new research shows.

So, when they see the peacock’s tail or a beautiful ornament in nature, they imagine that it evolves because it provides objective information about the quality of the mate that choosers need to ...

"The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail," Charles Darwin wrote in 1860, "makes me sick." The seemingly useless, even cumbersome, gaudy plumage did not fit with his theory of natural selection ...

Natural selection can reverse evolution that occurs through sexual selection and this can lead to better females, new research shows.

Natural selection is acting upon thousands of locations within the ash tree DNA, driving the evolution of resistance as the ...

The peacock's train is one of nature's legendary extravagances. The theory of sexual selection suggested it evolved because it gave its owner an edge in the mating game, but Marion Petrie 's ...

The peacock's tail, or train, was a riddle that vexed Charles Darwin as he sought to devise his theory of evolution: The principle of natural selection suggested that a species would develop ...