why is it that through-out the animal kingdom, the males are always the better looking, even in fish?

Answer 1

Because, just like the human males, animal males just want to get laid.

Answer 2

Competition for mates. Although looks are only a small part of it. In most animals it is the males behavior that really helps attracting a mate. Not just dancing around, but nest construction and attention to the female.

It is also thought that by being more attractive the males would divert predators from the female and nest. It is the female that is the most important, not the showy looking male. The female can find a mate anywhere at about anytime. It is the second most important objective in animals, passing on genes, reproducing. And the female is gonna reproduce, irregardless the males appearance.

Answer 3

It's usually true, but not always.

In a few birds it's the female which is prettier, and the male is duller and does the rearing of the eggs and chicks. These include for example phalaropes, painted snipe and emu.

Of course in many species (especially those which are monogamous) males and females look the same, or nearly so.

Females always have a bigger investment in the young, because producing an egg or baby costs a lot of time and energy. There is also no doubt about who the mother is.

Males (especially in polygamous species) only have a very small energy input to the young, and can't be certain any babies are theirs, so there is less point in them spending time and effort looking after the bairns.

It therefore tends to be females who spend time looking after eggs or young, and so they have more need to be well camouflaged.

If males are spending time looking for females, it pays to be conspicuous. A male who can survive despite being conspicuous makes a good choice as a mate, as he has proved that he's a fit, healthy, alert individual, and this is probably why such extremely showy plumage has evolved in birds such as peafowl and other pheasants. In a monogamous species, there's a better chance the kids are his, so it is worth contributing more to rearing them and it's less useful being showy.

As to why phalaropes etc are the other way about, I don't know...

Answer 4

Better looking generally means 'flashy' and easily seen. This means they're more likely to be eaten by predators while the females remain hidden and safe. Given that while many breeds CAN be monogamous, many also can utilize a single male to many females meaning that losing large numbers of males will not significantly affect the long run population of the species. If the females were impacted by predation, that could have disasterous consequences for the species.

Answer 5

Seems flattering to the male but it can be a hell of a job just being a male. The plumage, colourful male characteristics and all that extraordinary appearances are just to impress the female of his species. It does not end there ,however.

After giving him a cursory glance , the female may , at any time, give that same cursory glance to another male. So the two males have no other option but to fight it out while the female waits in expectation of a hero. Should another male get another cursory glance from Princess it becomes a long story.

At the end, she will succumb to the strongest knowing that he carries solid masculine genes that will protect her and give her strong offspring..

Answer 6

richard_new-for is sort of on the right track but it is not energy investment that is important. Considering the number of sperm produced in a copulation males often put more energy into a mating (though not into pregnancy when speaking of viviparous species)

The number one biological drive is to get as many copies of your DNA into the next generation as possible. In other words to reproduce. Now how is that best done? Females are limited in the number of offspring they can have by the number of eggs their body can produce. Therefore they must do the best for each egg as possible. In other words they must pick the best mate and take care of each egg. Now if a brightly colored male can be bright red, sing from an exposed perch and still escape all the predators then he must be a prime specimen and a female would do well to choose him. But she may have to take care of the eggs herself since he would attract predators to the nest.

Males on the other hand are limited by the number of females they can copulate with. Brightly colored males pay a high price for this. They get eaten!

In the case of the scissortailed flycatcher scientist found that females were attracted to males with long tails. So they began gluing extension on their tails. What the scientists found was that females woould preferentially mate with males whose tails were so long they could not get off the ground, but the females would almost flock to them.

Answer 7

I dont know why the males are better looking in the animal world but i do know that females are better looking in the HUMAN world!

Answer 8

Males have to compete for females so having beautiful colors helps them atttract that (im talking about fish). As far as insects and spiders go, the females are bigger and more beautiful.

Answer 9

I don't know about fish but in humans, I always found the women better looking.

I am a man and that may explain my view.

Answer 10

To attract the female as others have said, and to attract any predators towards themselves, hence away from their babies, to increase their chances of survival. Females are usually less flashily coloured in order to better blend into the environment and keep the eggs safe in the nest, the babies hidden under themselves, etc.
Having said that, 'always the better looking' is an exaggeration, many species are not sexually dimorphic except perhaps (not always) in size. I have bright yellow hen canaries and drab brown males.

Answer 11

I dont think that is completely true...in fish some females are better looking then males.