Sexual Selection (n):
1) A form of natural selection in which, according to Darwin's theory, the male or female is attracted by certain characteristics; form, color, behavior, etc, in the opposite sex, thus, modification of a special nature are brought about in the species.
[Biology Online]
2) An evolutionary process in animals, in which selection by females of males with certain characters, such as large antlers or bright plumage, results in the preservation of these characters in the species
2) An evolutionary process in animals, in which selection by females of males with certain characters, such as large antlers or bright plumage, results in the preservation of these characters in the species
[Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003]
Quotations
"A hornless stag or spurless cock would have a poor chance of leaving offspring. Sexual selection by always allowing the victor to breed might surely give indomitable courage, length to the spur, and strength to the wing to strike in the spurred leg, as well as the brutal cock-fighter, who knows well that he can improve his breed by careful selection of the best cocks."
"I strongly suspect that some well-known laws with respect to the plumage of male and female birds, in comparison with the plumage of the young, can be explained on the view of plumage having been chiefly modified by sexual selection, acting when the birds have come to the breeding age or during the breeding season; the modifications thus produced being inherited at corresponding ages or seasons, either by the males alone, or by the males and females;"
"A hornless stag or spurless cock would have a poor chance of leaving offspring. Sexual selection by always allowing the victor to breed might surely give indomitable courage, length to the spur, and strength to the wing to strike in the spurred leg, as well as the brutal cock-fighter, who knows well that he can improve his breed by careful selection of the best cocks."
[Darwin, Charles. "The Origin of Species" Literature.org Knowledge Matters Ltd. Accessed 8 Sept. 2010]
"I strongly suspect that some well-known laws with respect to the plumage of male and female birds, in comparison with the plumage of the young, can be explained on the view of plumage having been chiefly modified by sexual selection, acting when the birds have come to the breeding age or during the breeding season; the modifications thus produced being inherited at corresponding ages or seasons, either by the males alone, or by the males and females;"
[Darwin, Charles. "The Origin of Species" Literature.org Knowledge Matters Ltd. Accessed 8 Sept. 2010]
"Sexual selection may therefore be a double-edged process--promoting speciation on one hand but promoting extinction on the other."
"In large mammals, artificial selection is particularly likely for horns or antlers that are targeted by trophy hunters. Evolutionary consequences of hunting in mammals were strongly suggested... Because large-horned males are shot before their peak reproductive age, hunting favours males with slower horn growth showed that 30 years of trophy hunting selected for males with smaller body size and shorter horns."
"Sexual selection may therefore be a double-edged process--promoting speciation on one hand but promoting extinction on the other."
[Edward H., Morrow, and Pitcher Trevor E. "Sexual selection and the risk of extinction in birds." Proceedings: Biological Sciences 270.1526 (2003): 1793. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Sept. 2010.]
"In large mammals, artificial selection is particularly likely for horns or antlers that are targeted by trophy hunters. Evolutionary consequences of hunting in mammals were strongly suggested... Because large-horned males are shot before their peak reproductive age, hunting favours males with slower horn growth showed that 30 years of trophy hunting selected for males with smaller body size and shorter horns."
[Bonenfant, Christophe, et al. "Age-dependent relationship between horn growth and survival in wild sheep." Journal of Animal Ecology 78.1 (2009): 161-171. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Sept. 2010.]
Annotated Bibliography
[Allendorf, Fred W., and Jeffrey J. Hard. "Human-induced evolution caused by unnatural selection through harvest of wild animals." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106.(2009): 9987-9994. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Sept. 2010.]
This article reports on studies of hunted wild animal populations to correlate between unnatural evolutionary evidence on certain exploited species and hunting rates of those species. Allendorf and Hard explain the connection between unnatural selection (human harvesting of wild species based on physically superior traits) and serious evolutionary repercussions for these species. Examples of the consequences of these trophy killings are "reduced body size, earlier sexual maturity, reduced antler size, etc." as well as "greatly increas[ing] the time required for over-harvested populations to recover once harvest is curtailed because harvesting often creates strong selection differentials." Although the authors of this article seemed a bit bias and judgmental in a few instances, their findings were obviously scholarly and legitimated by scientific study. I find the connection and Catch-22 element of natural selection and unnatural selection extremely compelling. The very traits for which female mating decisions are based (sexual selection) are the targeted organisms for hunters. In other words, in the process of preserving the species, evolution has set itself up for extinction. This supplement to my research on natural selection helps me to see connections and disconnections arising from the implications of sexual selection.
Relates
This topic relates to my work on a clear as well as more abstract level. My work visually combines taxidermy and trophy animal pieces with human sexuality. Being trophy pieces, the animals and parts of animals (antlers, pelts) in my images were selected by hunters due to their physical presence and symbolic genetic power they would intangibly possess hanging on a wall somewhere. An off-shooting irony spawns from this fact due to the non-renewable nature of this "sport" in the long run. By killing off those males in the species possessing such desired traits as large or symmetric antlers, trophy hunters are contributing to the unnatural selection within the species to produce individuals with smaller or less symmetric antlers. As the population with the desired size of antlers steadily decreases, trophy hunters and collectors will value the far more endangered individuals all the more, leading to future non-presence of such individuals. This was true of the now-extinct Irish Elk, who once stood over ten feet tall with an antler span so large it is nearly considered mythical.
On a more abstract level, the topic of sexual selection comes into my work in combination with my concept of human sexuality, and the combined symbolization of the trophy animal pieces. The pieces could possibly be interpreted as direct symbols of male sex organs or egos, making them objectifications of human sexuality and a societal need to visually assert the male physicality and ability. Man conquered an animal possessing selective and desired traits translates to, man displays his own genetic or sexual desirability. I would like to play with this concept more in my work by introducing female into the imagery to intensify the push-pull of the sexuality reference.
Extinct Irish Elk
Annotated Bibliography
[Allendorf, Fred W., and Jeffrey J. Hard. "Human-induced evolution caused by unnatural selection through harvest of wild animals." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106.(2009): 9987-9994. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Sept. 2010.]
This article reports on studies of hunted wild animal populations to correlate between unnatural evolutionary evidence on certain exploited species and hunting rates of those species. Allendorf and Hard explain the connection between unnatural selection (human harvesting of wild species based on physically superior traits) and serious evolutionary repercussions for these species. Examples of the consequences of these trophy killings are "reduced body size, earlier sexual maturity, reduced antler size, etc." as well as "greatly increas[ing] the time required for over-harvested populations to recover once harvest is curtailed because harvesting often creates strong selection differentials." Although the authors of this article seemed a bit bias and judgmental in a few instances, their findings were obviously scholarly and legitimated by scientific study. I find the connection and Catch-22 element of natural selection and unnatural selection extremely compelling. The very traits for which female mating decisions are based (sexual selection) are the targeted organisms for hunters. In other words, in the process of preserving the species, evolution has set itself up for extinction. This supplement to my research on natural selection helps me to see connections and disconnections arising from the implications of sexual selection.
Relates
This topic relates to my work on a clear as well as more abstract level. My work visually combines taxidermy and trophy animal pieces with human sexuality. Being trophy pieces, the animals and parts of animals (antlers, pelts) in my images were selected by hunters due to their physical presence and symbolic genetic power they would intangibly possess hanging on a wall somewhere. An off-shooting irony spawns from this fact due to the non-renewable nature of this "sport" in the long run. By killing off those males in the species possessing such desired traits as large or symmetric antlers, trophy hunters are contributing to the unnatural selection within the species to produce individuals with smaller or less symmetric antlers. As the population with the desired size of antlers steadily decreases, trophy hunters and collectors will value the far more endangered individuals all the more, leading to future non-presence of such individuals. This was true of the now-extinct Irish Elk, who once stood over ten feet tall with an antler span so large it is nearly considered mythical.
On a more abstract level, the topic of sexual selection comes into my work in combination with my concept of human sexuality, and the combined symbolization of the trophy animal pieces. The pieces could possibly be interpreted as direct symbols of male sex organs or egos, making them objectifications of human sexuality and a societal need to visually assert the male physicality and ability. Man conquered an animal possessing selective and desired traits translates to, man displays his own genetic or sexual desirability. I would like to play with this concept more in my work by introducing female into the imagery to intensify the push-pull of the sexuality reference.
Extinct Irish Elk[libraryireland.com]
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