Darwin, Peacocks, and Beauty 9-28-2019 by Paul Giem
Channel: ItIsAboutGod
Date: 2019-09-29

Darwin once remarked to Asa Gray that a peacock tail feather made him sick. In fact, beauty for its own sake cannot be accounted for by unguided evolution and strongly suggests design. The problem of design (peacocks' feathers in particular) will be explored.

1. Darwin, C. H. 1860. Letter to Asa Gray. At https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-2743.xml
2. https://thejohn1010project.com/beauty-darwin-and-design.html
3. Takahashi, M. et al. 2008. Peahens do not prefer peacocks with more elaborate trains. Animal Behaviour 75: 1209-1219. At https://www.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~matusima/chinou3/TakahashiAnimBehav2008.pdf
4. Loyau, A. et al. 2008. Do peahens not prefer peacocks with more elaborate trains? Animal Behaviour 76: e5-e9. At http://www.adeline-loyau.net/publications/Loyau_etal_AnimBehav2008.pdf
5. Freeman, A. R. and J. F. Hare. 2015. Infrasound in mating displays: a peacock's tale. Animal Behavior 102: 241-250. At https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215000391 or https://sci-hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215000391
6. https://www.nature.com/news/2011/110418/full/news.2011.245.html
7. https://www.lakeforest.edu/live/news/9252-peacock-courtship

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