Posted on 11/30/2016 7:28:24 PM PST by JimSEA
Why do some animals have extravagant, showy ornaments -- think elk and deer antlers, peacock feathers and horns on dung beetles -- that can be a liability to survival? Charles Darwin couldn't figure it out, but now a Northwestern University research team has a possible explanation for this puzzling phenomenon of evolution.
The researchers developed a mathematical model that made a surprising prediction: In animals with ornamentation, males will evolve out of the tension between natural selection and sexual selection into two distinct subspecies, one with flashy, "costly" ornaments for attracting mates and one with subdued, "low-cost" ornaments.
"Ornamentation does persist in nature, and our quantitative model reveals that a species can split into two subspecies as a result of the ornamentation battle that occurs over time," said Daniel M. Abrams, an associate professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics in the McCormick School of Engineering.
Evidence from nature agrees. The researchers studied available data on animal ornaments, such as deer antlers, peacock feathers, brightness of certain fish and tail length of some birds, from 15 species. They found the same distribution pattern of ornament sizes across many of the species: The animals often split into the two subgroups predicted by the model, one showy and one subdued, with very few in the middle.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
There is a mating strategy called the sneaky fucker strategy. The species has alpha males with harems, but some males are evolved to look like females. They get let in and treated as females, but then get to mate with some of the females because they are seen as near equals and available if the alpha male is busy with someone else.
Gad Saad, a Lebanese-Canadian evolutionary behavioural scientist, suggested this explains the strategy behind beta males backing feminists - and theorized we could study them as a distinct physical TYPE that is similar to the ‘Low cost ornamentation” groups we see above.
Homosexuals could then be seen as males with too much of alpha genes (the alpha alpha males) who now can dispose of women altogether and the beta beta males (ultra feminine homosexuals who otherwise are treated as women but never mate with them). The latter part’s my theory.
If your model uses fact rather than mine which only relies on opinion. Too many climate change types forget that models have to work...make verifiable predictions, not just sound good and please their political allies. I do think that will eventually happen. In fact, some models work pretty well in specific environments but there is no theory of climate that works like evolution.
Evolution ties together biology, geology, organic chemistry, etc. and climate still falls short by demanding CO2 and Methane as the agents. It’s more complex than that.
Smart guy.
While humans are designed for monogamy, women want the best mate possible - and some are willing to share the alpha male instead of settle for a theta.
This is why China and India are freaking out about bare branches, poor males unable to find wives. No one worries about the men with resources - that’s who women gravitate to.
Even in balanced gender ratios, polygamy creates imbalance like Mauritania and other sub-Saharan desert nations where a third or quarter of the women are in polygamous unions and often willingly - better to share the rich man than marry the poor one. Which leaves a lot of the poor men single unless they are killing each other off.
Where do gold diggers come into this? They are women who often come from a line of females competing for the alpha male, whether to be his only mate or dominant mate in the harem depends on the culture.
Sounds like you’re halfway joking, but there are “Super males” with two Y chromosomes. Some claim they’re more violent, prone to criminality and prone to homosexuality.
More photo on my list of “cannot be unseen” but very much to the point!!!!!
The best rebuttal of the climate models was the famous scientist who said if they were valid, there wouldn’t be more than one; we wouldn’t have many competing models because we’d have one model that worked.
Instead, we have competing models with ever more apocalyptic projections reflecting modeling bias. And because climate / saving the Earth is the new justification for totalitarianism, climate science is the new Lysenkoism - the science is used to justify the politics and made to suit the politics down to altering real world data and historical data to FIT the models.
NOAA Fiddles With Climate Data To Erase The 15-Year Global Warming ‘Hiatus’
http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/04/noaa-fiddles-with-climate-data-to-erase-the-15-year-global-warming-hiatus/#ixzz4Gwbd3aIC
German Professor: NASA Has Fiddled Climate Data On ‘Unbelievable’ Scale
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/24/german-professor-nasa-fiddled-climate-data-unbelievable-scale/
Mischief with factoids
Global warming fanatics manipulate the facts to rescue a scam
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/16/editorial-climate-scientists-manipulate-data-to-su/
Relates a lot to what’s going on so much in society. However, I do think monogamy has a scientific as well as a wise religious base. Look at what happens to the children of so many single moms, particularly in the “hood”.
Very true. The competition is proof in and of itself that more is needed.
How dare they have a flashy car!!! They will chase you as well on occasion!
Thanx for the help on this.
Kinda reminded me of something l saw on an episode of Bones!
What are female peacocks called?
Animals have ornaments because God is an artist.
Pea hens.
Natural selection is a god.
In what way. You’re going to say I somehow worship it. High temperatures cause fire. Water drowns air breathing animals, when something follows another with consistency, we are talking about factual cause and effect, not belief. Facts are true, that’s the definition.
Plain in comparison but pretty.
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