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The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today

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This comprehensive and engrossing study examines two major elements of evolution: the role of ornamenation in various species, and the presence of altruism in a nature deemed "red in tooth and claw." Cronin focuses throughout the book on the contrasting views of Charles Darwin and his co-founder of evolution by natural selection, Albert Russell Wallace. Darwin appended his earlier ideas outlined in The Origin of Species in The Descent of Man. In that later work, he enalrged on the idea of "sexual selection." He postulated that many evolutionary traits which appear as maladaptive to survival are actually derived from reproductive pressures. The issue of female choice among many species was a difficult idea to sell - Wallace never accepted it. He retained what Cronin deems "natural selection by
good sense," devoid of esthetics.

Cronin chronicles the history of sexual selection with craft and precision. Her writing is unambiguous, providing excellent insights into many aspects of evolutionary thinking. As she develops her theme, she aknowledges her debt to Dawkin's work on the influence of genes manifesting as guides to adaptation. Cronin adds a new term in describing the merging of Mendelian genetics and Darwin's gradualist concept - "modern Darwism". She carefully explains how natural selection operates at the genetic level to achieve a "trade-off" of costs and benefits to arrive at selected traits. In this analysis, Cronin gently but firmly applies Darwinian implements to show how critics of modern Darwinism have misled themselves in seeking "alternative" answers to adapation. The have been asking the wrong questions!

This view was hotly challenged by paleontologist Stephen Gould in a now-famous essay. He viewed with horror Cronin's application of gene selection as a definitive evolutionary process. He made a wide-ranging critique which attempted to refute applying any facets of animal behaviour to humans. The review touched off the [mostly] trans-Atlantic dispute over how adaptation actually works. It was the Sarajevo of the "Darwin Wars" between Gould and Dawkins, perhaps best summarized by Daniel Dennet. Cronin's use of evidence should have forestalled that conflict. Cronin's skills in applying essentials to explain adaptations are unimpeachable and her skillful prose only enhances the value of this work. It will stand for a long time as a landmark work in evolutionary studies.

Dr. Cronin presents a philosophical history of the questions of sexual selection (as exemplified by the peacock in the title) and altruism (the ant), from the time of Darwin until today. She explains the background to the debate (or lack thereof) among Darwin's contemporaries and successors, which is sometimes difficult to understand with the gene based view of natural selection we have today. It is fascinating reading for the informed person, but the academic tone may be off putting to the casual reader. Dr. Cronin presupposes a fairly detailed knowledge of modern evolutionary theory, and the layperson may want to read some introduction such as Dawkins' books first.

Peacocks are the most flamboyand and ornamental birds. The male peacock's tail is an extravanganza: bizarre, and exaggerated, while the white felame is less beautiful and mores 'sensibly dressed.' For a special occasion, I purchased a bright blue and white whirt with the appearance of peacock feathers. It was lovely but, after two wearing, I went back to the mall and also purchased the 'dull' brown, yellow and green identical skirt in the muted colors. Can you imagine, it was appreciated more by the viewers than the brighter one? Darwin had it right with his theroy that females prefer to mate with the best-ornamental males. Over evolutionary time, males develop ever-more exaggerated, immoderate flamboyance. All male birds are the brighter ones, even ducks.

What was the selective force that had brought such fine-tuning of choosing a mate, if not the visual discrimination of birds? He conceived the idea of the peacock's tail as a product of female choise was 'an awful stretcher.' But his prediction proved true; thus, a happy ending to the peacock's tale.

One thing about ants are they don't have to worry about appearances. They aren't very pretty so who can tell the difference; they are busy, hard workers who live in communes, and have multiple partners to propetuate the species.

Ms. Cronin's thesis on humans is that women choose men who can give them handsome sons to propugate the theory of selective evolution. In my case, it's always been the male who did the choosing, and the beautiful females (no matter how dumb) have the advantage over the not-so-pretty girls. For some reason, however, the most important men tend to have plainer wifes first, the younger beauties in their old age.

She discusses human altruism by comparing Wallace, Huxley, Spenser and othre with Darwin and his moral views as to natural history. Nature can be most cruel to the kindest, most compassionate humans and bless the selfish, arrogant maco men as they do the choosing in today's world. Can you call it really 'mating' or power of lust to allow today's attractive men to make the overtures?

Young girls are certainly advertising their wares with their middles and belly buttons showing and the see-through camisoles they wear in public is a form of indecency. At the rodeo, some girls showed their rear sections with the short shorts and midriff tops and didn't have good-looking bodies, but t he men looked anyway. This in-depth study of Darwinism and its antagonists is done in an intellectual way by Ms. Cronin who has a Ph.D and taught at University of Oxford and the Philosophy Department at the London School of Economics.

The cover picture is "Peacock and Peahen with a Red Cardinal in a Classical Landscape" by Tobias Stranover which hangs in the London Gallery and the Bridgeman Art Library.