Summary:
- This article discusses the concept of sexual selection, which is a process where certain traits are favored in mates, leading to the evolution of those traits over time.
- The article focuses on a study conducted on pheasants, where researchers found that the long tail feathers of male pheasants, which are favored by females, come at a cost to the birds' survival and reproductive success.
- The study suggests that the benefits of having attractive traits like long tail feathers must outweigh the costs, such as increased predation risk and reduced foraging ability, for sexual selection to be an effective evolutionary mechanism.