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Dinesh

Dinesh club

Posted: 03 Jun 2022

Taken: 25 May 2014

1 favorite     1 comment    58 visits

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Ground for Sculptures •
USA •
New York •
Excerpt •
The Descent of Man •
Charles Darwin •
Author •

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 Dinesh
Dinesh club
When the two sexes follow exactly the same habits of life, and the male has the sensory or locomotive organs more highly developed than those of the female, it may be that the perfection of these is indispensable to the male for finding the female; but in the vast majority of cases, they serve only to give one male an advantage over another, for with sufficient time, the less well-endowed males would succeed in pairing with the females; and judging from the structures of the female, they would be in all other respects equally well adapted for their ordinary habits of life. Since in such cases the males have acquired their present structure, not from being better fitted to survive in the struggle for existence, but from having gained an advantage over other males, and from having transmitted this advantage t9 their male offspring alone, sexual selection must here have come into action. . . . ~ Page 217 (Chapter: Sexual Selection)

There are many others structures and instincts which must have been developed through sexual selection -- such as the weapons of offence and the means of defence -- of the males for fighting with and driving away their rivals -- their courage and pugnacity -- their various ornaments -- their contrivances for producing vocal or instrumental music -- and their glands for emitting odors, most of these latter structures serving only to allure or excite the female. It is clear that these characters are the result of sexual selection and not of ordinary selection, since unarmed, unornamented, or unattractive males would succeed equally well in the battle for life and in leaving a numerous progeny, but for the presence of better endowed males. We may infer that this would be the case, because the females, which are unarmed and unornamented, are able to survive and procreate their kind. . . . Page 218

THE DESCENT OF MAN
2 years ago. Edited 2 years ago.

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