Humans admire peacocks for their stunning tail feathers, but until recently no one could say whether the display actually drew the eyes of peahens. Now scientists, strapping cameras onto the heads of ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Well, if ...

Why do peacocks grow such an elaborate tail to attract a mate? After all, their unwieldy plumage makes them much more liable to being eaten by a predator or killed by a more agile rival. Charles ...

The peacock’s tail is a classic example of an overly exaggerated, sexually selected trait that comes at a cost -- all that elaborate plumage must slow them down, right? That's not the case according ...