When I say pigmentation, i'm refering to birds and animals too. Is it something that was the concious will to distinguish itself and increase it's chances of survival or was it down to diet and envirnment? e.g. Birds of paradise are well known for their outrageous colours but they are generally localised to areas of rich vegetation and high humidity. Also, Al I worng in assuming that birds are colourblind, If not, Their colours must be caused by environmental factors. ? Any thoughts or facts?
2007-02-02 22:40:38 · 2 answers · asked by bavwill 3 in Environment
My feeling is genetics...
It (the colours) must have evolved over eons or possibly a sudden mutation that stuck. (Sorry I don't have facts to back me up on my feeling)
With the rainforest...because it's so dense and lush with greenery I think the birds evolved the colours to stand out to attract a mate...perhaps their birdsong wasn't loud enough to carry through the vegetation.
So the colourful offspring survived to carry on these genes. Nature is certainly amazing...it has an intelligence all its own.
I don't believe birds are colour blind. For example we put out red birdfeeders for the hummingbirds to attract them to the sugar water. Flowers developed bright colours to attract birds and insects to spread their pollen (and seeds?). Everything has a scientific reason for their appearance. Just as many animals developed camoflage to hide from predators or to catch their prey. It's all very interesting to me how nature works.
Hope I helped a little.
Just my thoughts on this.
2007-02-03 00:53:32 · answer #1 · answered by Gigi 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's evolution (via genetics).
Read, for example, On the Origin of Species (C. Darwin)
2007-02-05 09:45:03 · answer #2 · answered by Steve B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋