Science in Action
The New Scientist reports in, “Have peacock tails lost their sexual allure?”
A controversial study has found no evidence for the traditional view – practically enshrined in evolutionary lore – that peahens choose their partners depending on the quality of the peacocks’ tails.
Obviously, traditionalists have many things to say about the quality of the study. Because, of course, everyone knows it’s true.
How does anyone know what a peahen thinks? Or the peacock with the fancy tail, for that matter? maybe peacocks are as vain as their human counterparts.
Until we teach them sign language, we’ll never know for sure.
Were I to do this, I’d show the peahens pictures, and see how they behave. Do they giggle and point, or get all amorous?