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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Published on: May 21, 2019

Variation in the peacock's train shows a genetic component.

Marion Petrie¹, Peter Cotgreave, Thomas W Pike

¹School of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. marion.petrie@ncl.ac.uk

|October 9, 2007

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Female peafowl prefer males with elaborate trains, yet this trait shows high heritability, challenging the lek paradox. This suggests significant additive genetic variance exists in sexually selected traits.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Behavioral Ecology
Genetics

Background:

Female peafowl (Pavo cristatus) exhibit strong mating preferences for males with elaborate trains.
This preference presents the 'lek paradox': intense sexual selection should reduce genetic variation in male ornaments, yet variation persists.
Theoretical expectations suggest low heritability for traits under directional selection, such as peacock trains.

Purpose of the Study:

To estimate the narrow-sense heritability of male ornaments and other morphometric traits in peafowl.
To investigate the genetic basis of traits involved in female mate choice.
To address the lek paradox by examining heritability in secondary sexual traits.

Main Methods:

Two independent breeding experiments were conducted.
A total of 42 sires and 86 male offspring were analyzed.
Narrow-sense heritability was estimated for train length, tarsus length, body weight, and spur length.

Main Results:

Significant heritability was found for train length, a key trait in female mate choice.
No significant heritability was detected for non-fitness related traits: tarsus length, body weight, or spur length.
Findings contradict the expectation of low heritability in traits under directional selection.

Conclusions:

High levels of additive genetic variance can exist in secondary sexual traits subjected to directional selection.
The study supports evidence for heritable variation in elaborate male ornaments.
The primary question of what maintains this genetic variation in the face of sexual selection remains an open challenge.