What is the EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE....

...of peahens preferring more flamboyant peacock tailfeathers.


It seems to me that peahens preferring peacocks who waste energy on this frivolous trait would have male offspring with less of a chance of surviving in the wild.  So please, explain to me the EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE.

>>6
Zahavi's hypothesis necessarily follows from males showing off their health to females. Males with pleasing color patterns and healthy-looking feathers are chosen to reproduce, despite the negative impact they have on survivability, and those traits become more extreme in following generations. But yeah, I admit I used an iffy anthropomorphization in my last post.