The peacok is most beautifiel
among male pirod.
(comparative degpee)
Answers
Plz check ur spelling of BEAUTIFUL.
According to the theory of sexual selection, the peacock tail has gradually evolved because the peahen selects beautiful males for mating.
The peacock tail contains spectacular beauty because of the large feathers, bright, iridescent colours and intricate patterns. The colours in the tail feathers are produced by an optical effect called thin-film interference. The eye pattern has a high degree of brightness and precision because the colour-producing mechanisms contain an extremely high level of optimum design. According to the theory of sexual selection, the peacock tail has gradually evolved because the peahen selects beautiful males for mating. However, there is no satisfactory explanation of how the sexual selection cycle can start or why the peahen should prefer beautiful features. In addition, there is irreducible complexity in both the physical structure of the feather and in the beautiful patterns.
Most birds have two types of tail feather: flight feathers and tail-coverts. The flight feathers provide stability during flight, while the tail-coverts ‘cover’ and protect the tail region. In the vast majority of birds, the tail-coverts are small feathers, just a few centimetres long. However, some birds like the peacock have very large tail-coverts for decorative purposes. These decorative feathers are also referred to as ornamental feathers, or display feathers.1 It should be noted that a peacock is a male peafowl and a peahen is a female peafowl. The peahen does not have any decorative feathers.
When a peacock displays his tail feathers during courtship, a magnificent ‘fan formation’ of feathers forms a beautiful backdrop to the body of the peacock as shown in Figure 1 (below). An adult peacock has an average of 200 tail feathers and these are shed and re-grown annually. Of the 200 or so feathers, about 170 are ‘eye’ feathers and 30 are ‘T’ feathers. The ‘eyes’ are sometimes referred to as ocellations.
Peacock
Figure 1. Peacock with tail feathers displayed.
This paper describes some of the complex structures that are responsible for producing the beautiful features and why the beauty of the peacock is evidence for intelligent design. The paper also describes the theory of sexual selection and shows that there are serious problems with the theory.
Fan formation of displayed feathers
When the peacock feathers are displayed there are several beautiful features that can be seen:
Fan formation of feathers
Uniform distribution of ‘eyes’
Intricate ‘eye’ feathers
Intricate ‘T’ feathers
One reason for the beauty of the displayed feathers is that they form a semi-circular fan over an angle of more than 180 degrees. The fan formation is very even because the axis of every feather can be projected back to an approximately common geometrical center. The radial alignment of feathers requires the root of each feather to be pointed with a remarkable degree of accuracy. Another remarkable feature of the displayed feathers is that they are ‘deployed’ into position by muscles in the peacock’s tail. Not only can the peacock deploy the feathers, but he can also make them vibrate and produce a characteristic hum.
Another beautiful feature of the displayed feathers is the uniform spacing of the eyes. Even though the display contains around 170 eye feathers, they are all visible and all spaced apart with a remarkable degree of uniformity. All the eyes are visible because the feathers are layered with the short feathers at the front and the longer feathers at the back. The eyes have an even spacing because each feather has the right length.
Each ‘eye’ feather and ‘T’ feather is an object of outstanding beauty in itself. The eyes contain beautiful patterns, and the ‘T’-shaped feathers form a beautiful border to the fan.
The eye feather
Peacock Eye Feather
Figure 2. Structure of the eye feather.
Figure 2 (right) shows a sketch of the top section of the eye feather. There are several beautiful features to the feather:
Bright colours
Intricate eye pattern
Loose barbs below the eye pattern
Absence of stem in the top half of eye pattern
Narrow stem in the bottom half of eye pattern
Brown coating of the stem near the eye pattern
The bright colours and intricate shapes of the eye pattern are the most striking aesthetic features. The loose barbs on the lower part of the feather are beautiful because they make a contrast with the neatness and precision of the barbs in the eye pattern.
A large eye feather has been examined at Bristol University to determine the number and size of each part of the feather. The number and size of barbules was estimated by examining sample sections of barbs with a microscope. The data for the feather are summarized as follows:
Length of feather = 1.3 m
Number of barbs = 290
Maximum length of barbs = 200 mm
Average length of barbs = 105 mm
Barbules per mm on one barb = 32 (16 each side)
Length of barbules in eye pattern = 0.8 to 1 mm
Length of barbules below eye pattern = 2 to 3 mm
Total number of barbules in feather = nearly 1 million