Why do male robins have red breasts? Why are the colorful peacocks masculine? Who let the lions have the mane instead of the lionesses? In animal history, male animals have been much flashier, whereas females fade into the background. However, according to The Independent, this is not always true. The long-held belief was that males in the wild needed to attract their mates with their bright colors and showy ornamentation. However, the same is true for the females – the spottier the barn owl the better; the more colorful the bluethroat, the more birds she attracts.
Why have scientists virtually ignored this interesting fact? That’s the biggest question. Is it because of sexism? Perhaps. Maybe males are more wont to look at males in the wild – the few people who have studied it have been mostly women, but there are not many women in the field as well. Did they just not notice? Unlikely, because Charles Darwin was one of the more prominent figures to notice it.
We’re hopefully on the verge of finding out the correlation between the brightness of some animals and the drabness of others, and hopefully sexism won’t play a part. Keep an eye out for the type of thing that will put male animals to shame – females deserve the spotlight.
Loading ...
