Does Evolution has a role on beauty of "Wood Duck" bird?

Forums: Evolution, Beauty, Natural Selection
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Hey there,

Lately I had a debate with a person on internet on whether beauty of Wood Duck has any relation to Evolution or not.

At first he claimed that Evolution has nothing to do with beauty of species, and only narrow-minded people would assert that. However I refuted his comment by giving example of peacock: (The peacocks with well-formed and beautiful tail have higher chance to reproduce and pass their genes while rest of peacocks more probably lose the chance).

Finally he took a step back and claimed Wood Duck has nothing to do with evolution as it's beauty does not serve Wood Duck's survival in any way or form, hence this beauty must be caused by god, not the evolution.

My question for you is this:
Why Wood Duck is so beautiful? Does its beauty has any survival benefit to it? If yes, please elaborate how.

Note: By Wood Duck, I mean the following bird:
http://www.taknaz.ir/upload/65/0.016659001330283147_taknaz_ir.jpg

Thank you very much.
0nleej.

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@0nleej,

beauty is a subjective term.

female wood ducks may well wish they were mates with a loon. but have to settle for Harold the wood duck...

I find reptiles beautiful, but lotsa folks think they are repulsive...

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@Rockhead,

Hello Rockhead,

Thanks for the reply. I do get your point and indeed it is true that beauty is a subjective term.

I'll rephrase my question: Is there any evolutionary explanation on Wood Duck's body structure (The color, its form, etc.) and whether these visual traits have anything with Wood Duck's survival? Do they have attractive and non-attractive category while choosing a mate for reproduction? Does it's color and body structure help Wood Duck to camouflage etc.? (do you get my point?)

I hope the question is not too confusing.

Much appreciate your comments.

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@0nleej,

respectfully submitted I dont think that you "refuted" your friends point at all.

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@farmerman,

Why not ask yor friend whether dimorphism (the wood dck has a male and female form that differs in color and size). Somehow this had to develop along with the speciation. No matter what the reason for the dimorphism, IT OCCURS and is recorded in the duck's genetic material. I dont know whether there exist ANY non dimorphic forms of wood duck (where male and female are exactly the same).

Discuss dimorphism with your friend and see where it goes wrt evolution.

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You must naturally define beauty, there has been attempts define aesthetics, however this is the assumptions of statistical suuggestion.

Is this beauty cognitively synonymous to how humans interpret beauty, can this definition be generalised to all know organisms?

Quote:

I'll rephrase my question: Is there any evolutionary explanation on Wood Duck's body structure (The color, its form, etc.) and whether these visual traits have anything with Wood Duck's survival? Do they have attractive and non-attractive category while choosing a mate for reproduction? Does it's color and body structure help Wood Duck to camouflage etc.? (do you get my point?)

I believe fitness/sexual selection may be operated.

I am personally intrigued in the potential of phenotype and how consistent gametogenesis is between male/female.

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Does Evolution has a role on beauty of "Wood Duck" bird?

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