A long tail of truth and beauty: A zigzag pattern of feather formation explains the symmetry, complexity, and beauty of the peacock’s tail

Abstract One hundred and fifty years after the publication of Darwin’s sexual selection theory, the problem of the peacock’s train remains unsolved. Darwin assumed that the peacock’s long train was maladaptive and was the indirect effect of selection by female mate choice based on the train’s beauty. While a relationship between the feathers’ elaborate features and mating success has been shown, the concept of eyespots as the basis of female …