Manes, Trains And Antlers Explained: How Showy Male Traits Evolved

August 22, 2008

For Charles Darwin, the problem of the peacock’s tail, in light of his theory of natural selection, was vexing in the extreme.

Indeed, in 1860, writing to Asa Gray, his most ardent American champion, Darwin confessed: "The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!"

In his struggle to explain why such extravagant and seemingly burdensome features existed, the great English naturalist struck upon the idea of sexual selection — that showy traits such as the Peacock’s ornamentation were an advantage in the mating game that outweighed other disadvantages.

A team of Wisconsin scientists has turned from the question of why such male traits exist to precisely how they evolved. They have worked out the molecular details of how a simple genetic switch controls decorative traits in male fruit flies and how that switch evolved. By extension, the work explains the mechanics of how the male lion got his mane, how the bull moose acquired such an impressive set of antlers and, yes, how the peacock got its magnificent tail.

A vibrant peacock strutting his stuff. (Credit: iStockphoto/Jennifer Daley)

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Posted in Nature, Science and Technology