Caring about appearances.

[kclo4x]

Alright, we all know that everyone cares about how they look, what they think, what other people think etc.

First off, is this simply because seeming the best increases chances of getting a mate? or is there something more to it?

Also, if that is true do other animals have the trait?

For example: peacocks with bigger and brighter feathers are more attractive to pea hens.

And how simple of organism can have this sense of ability to "realize" one mate is healthier, or better then another?


And the MOST important question i have here is: if the environment chances does the attractiveness of the mate?

An example would be say, i am breeding pill bugs to become yellow. if i change the environment to be yellow, the pill bugs *if they have any sort of cognition that would be required for selecting a mate, that is* would be more attracted to the ones with the most yellow, since they blend in better?

[mith]

I think it requires a lot more brain cells to choose. Plus given that mating has such low costs in these simpler life forms, there might not be much incentive to pick healthier or unhealthier.

[alextemplet]

It's possible, I suppose. A lot of the traits we consider attractive (intelligence, physical strength, agility, etc.) would've been very useful to survive in the wild. A lot of tribal initiation rituals are designed to test a youth's ability to survive and be able to hunt or fight, both useful skills. I suppose it's possible that, in an environment requiring more speed to survive than strength, or vice-versa, people might be able to recognize this and choose mates with the necessary qualities.

[kotoreru]

i am breeding pill bugs to become yellow. if i change the environment to be yellow, the pill bugs *if they have any sort of cognition that would be required for selecting a mate, that is* would be more attracted to the ones with the most yellow, since they blend in better?

Do pill bugs choose mates, then? I doubt it's through visual cues somehow. To get the kind of change in allele frequencies you want, you need a selective pressure e.g. a predator that has a harder time finding yellow pill bugs.

[mith]

Or artificial selection

[kclo4x]

Yeah I'm just breeding them like you would with a dog or something.
but i was wondering if attractiveness could be changed by environment.

i didn't really think a pill bug could, but the idea is interesting.
i don't think Pill bugs can see in color not like we can.
they run away from a black light just as fast as a normal light... kinda interesting... maybe their spectrum of visible light is greater.

[AstusAleator]

Just a thought I had while reading this:
Someone mentioned the "costs" of mating/reproduction. This made me think of the relatively high "cost" or difficulty that humans have with child birth and rearing. It would make sense that a female would select a male that looks like he can support her through the birthing and rearing processes. But then again, perhaps we evolved in settings where birthing mothers grouped in their own female cohort, or the elderly provided that support... just a random thought.

[kclo4x]

I like that idea.

Hmmm, interesting
i wonder if evolution would cause females to be more trust worthy of each other, and men less trust worthy of each other.

Men would have to appear the best, dominate, and other stuffs along those lines.
while if you were a female, and there were female cohorts, then females would need to be more trusting with each other.
maybe even males find females more trust worthy because of that.
well eh idk at least physically, not mentally