How can evolution explain color, or a peacock feather design?

Question

The color question is somehwat shallow, but arguable. Gases create color, but why would nature integrate them into life in shapes and designs? I'm not trying to prove a point. I would like to read something about this. For self-knowledge.

That's quite the 360 Judy M ;)

You got me on the gases thing. Anyways threw it out there to show I need to learn more. I want to know.

Answer 1

A male peacock's plumage is colorful to attract a mate. The peacock with the larger, more colorful plumage is more likely to get laid, and therefore have offspring, which, genetically, should also have more colorful plumage when they mature. In the animal kingdom, the male is usually the most colorful for two reasons; to attract a mate and to draw predators away from the more camouflaged female (nature protects the breeders).

Incidentally, gasses don't create color. Color exists because our eyes perceive a very narrow bandwidth of electromagnetic radiation as colors. White light is made up of many colors. Leaves appear green because their surface absorbs the other colors of the spectrum and reflect the green light (Blue + Yellow) which our eyes pick up and our brain interprets as green.

Answer 2

Natural selection works because organisms which are better equipped to live and reproduce obviously end up reproducing more, so their genes are passed on at higher rates, and the genes of their children, and on and on.

So color can increase an organism's chances of survival and increased reproduction in many ways. A green snake that blends in with its surrounding treetops has a better chance of sneaking up on prey; so it will be more well-fed and healthy than a brown snake that doesn't have the same advantage. Birds often attract mates by showing off their flashy colors. Why? I don't know if it's been determined for sure... in some way the female must perceive brighter colors as a sign of health and prefer that in a mate.

Answer 3

Genes and chromosomes sometimes change in replication. If the result is successful, then the change will stay and prosper. For instance if the color green is good camouflage in the wood, is will be a successful skin color for animals there. They will survive and their colleagues won't.

Answer 4

The most obvious color combinations come in birds, and the most colorful ones are the males, who need to win favor with the females. It seems that female birds of some species have been drawn to the most vibrant of their male counterparts.

Answer 5

Since the universe, and therefore the Earth, has color, color is a part of the environment of organisms and therefore is a selective agent since all life evolved in the presence of it.

Answer 6

The more fanciful designs have come to be because of sexual preference. Basically the more attractive an animal is the more likely it is to procreate, and so those attractive genes will carry on and become more frequent and more pronounced.

Answer 7

Ah, then I have the perfect book for you!

Richard Dawkins, "The Blind Watchmaker", particularly Chapter 8, where the peakcock's feathers is addressed.

Answer 8

For protection, as a warning, for mating, as a way to identify male/female, camouflage, heat resistance, heat absorption, from the food eaten....

There are some of the many.

Answer 9

Gases create color???
Gee and I always thought it had to do with specific wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation....

Answer 10

look at the change in color as you move from region to region. It seems pretty self explainatory to me.