A friend who shares my interest in evolutionary design sent me an interesting link on bee-eaters from this issue of National Geographic. As typical of the magazine, a series of stunning photographs of bee-eaters by Jözsef L. Szentpéteri. Staring at this picture, the male tossing its catch, preparing a meal before making the offering to the female, I could not help drawing an analogy. To me its seems like an aesthetic abstraction of homo sapiens sapiens males tossing a fried egg up in the air from the pan directed to a female in the vicinity (or practicing for it) - going for the oomph quotient. No escape from the evolutionary hardwiring for males. So flaunt it, do it in (birdie) style.
Often times voracious bee-eater females are known to test males if they can bring a second bug. If he returns as the ornithologist Hilary Fry notes, "nearly always accepts the offering, quickly eating" and then consenting to copulate. Is it unlike checking for statistical significance? Female bee-eaters care for males who can wrench a robust bug mid-air with acrobatic ease, not for those who got lucky with a frail sloppy bug. Show me you can do it again and we can take it forward from there.
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