Brain and behavior: warning: nsfc

melodious

Creative Mating Rituals

by Emily Anthes • Posted August 17, 2006 12:34 PM

During mating season, male bowerbirds make elaborate ground-level structures out of sticks, moss and leaves, then decorate these bowers with colorful flowers, stones and shells. They sometimes even "paint" them with berries.

When the time comes, the females choose to mate with the males that have built the biggest, most symmetric and best decorated nests.

While male bowerbirds' creative displays have a clear function, the purpose of human creativity is not as well understood. Some scientists theorize that problem solving, which is one facet of creativity, confers a survival advantage and probably evolved via natural selection.

But a new study by Arizona State University researchers provides evidence that creativity could also be the result of a complementary process known as sexual selection.

The rest of this article can be found here:

http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/08/men_and_sometimes_women_lure_m.php