[extropy-chat] RE: Re: Intelligent Design and Irriducible Complexity

[Ody777 at comcast.net]

“Spike” wrote (1 Oct):

<<Steven Jay Gould gives an example of a species that
apparently went extinct because of mate-selection
characteristics that worked against survival of the
genome: a particular species of elk that developed
monster-huge antlers.  The theory is that the does
continued to choose the bucks with the largest antlers
long after they were too big to use for fighting rival
males.  Eventually the buck's antlers became so heavy,
the does were not able to support their considerable
heft during the mating process.  The results were
predictable.>>

But why did the does continue to choose the bucks with the largest antlers?  Wouldn’t natural selection tend to eliminate this contra-survival behavior?  Wouldn’t the does that preferred smaller antlers mate more often, have more functional offspring, and thus pass on more genes?


Rob Masters