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Home / A Most Private Evolution / File
IMPRACTICAL PLUMAGE
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Ridiculously long tail feathers don’t make sense for survival of the fittest, so Darwin developed the idea of sexual selection to explain features such as the impractical plumage of some male birds (hummingbird pair illustrated in Descent of Man). Credit: Reproduced with permission from John van Wyhe, ed., The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online (darwin-online.org.uk)

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  • Feathers are indigestible. The presence of "ridiculously long" tail feathers may make a bird less likely to be attacked by snakes which would have a difficult time managing the ingested feathers after the digestion of the bird. Snakes regurgitate the indigestible portions of their prey and "ridiculously long" tail feathers and filamentous flank coverts, trains and so on, may prove more difficult to regurgitate than one might suspect at first glance. The entire digestive morphology of the serpent sends food towards its stomach. Feathers swell with moisture. These specialized plumes could very well clog up the works for a snake, already made vulnerable during transport/digestion of its prey as it is obliged to remain fairly immobile for days at a time. A feather duster sticking out of its mouth during this process would put the serpent/monitor lizard in an even more vulnerable situation. Study the flank covert trains of one of the Birds of Paradise and wonder why such outrageously ornamented birds thrive in such great diversity on New Guinea and then compare that to the lack of snake defense adaptations in the native bird species of Guam.
    Most of the Guam bird species have been extirpated by the accidental introduction of the ( Native to New Guinea) Brown Tree Snake in the 1960's.
    Plumage provides a barrier against serpent strike/assault and presents a greater signal enhancing surface area, useful for both anti-predation behaviors and communication within social groups which mob potential predators.
    Ma'ahes Ma'ahes
    Feb. 1, 2009 at 2:52pm
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