The peacock's tail - Marvel Education

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Practice Listening: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers ID: #37848 Short The peacock's tail

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Transcript:

The peacock's tail, by contrast, was at best a waste of space and in practice a severe encumbrance; and Darwin felt obliged to invoke what he felt was a separate mechanism of evolution, which he called 'sexual selection'. The driving mechanism was simply that females liked — in his words — 'beauty for beauty's sake'. But Darwin's friend and col laborator, Alfred Russel Wallace, though in many ways more 'romantic' than Darwin, was in others even more Darwinian. 'Beauty for beauty's sake' he wanted nothing of. If peahens chose cocks with the showiest trains, he felt, then it must be that they knew what they were about. The cocks must have some other quality, which was not necessarily obvious to the human observer, but which the hens themselves could appreciate. According to Wallace, then, the train was not an end in itself, but an advertisement for some genuine contribution to survival.

Based on the passage, what are the contrasting views of Darwin and Wallace regarding the peacock's tail?

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Darwin believed the peacock's tail was primarily for attracting mates. Wallace thought the tail advertised some quality that contributed to survival. Darwin felt the tail was a significant evolutionary disadvantage. Wallace agreed with Darwin that the tail was just an ornamental feature. Darwin proposed 'sexual selection' as a separate mechanism of evolution. Wallace believed that peahens chose mates based on their intelligence.

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Transcript:

Based on the passage, what are the contrasting views of Darwin and Wallace regarding the peacock's tail?

Result:

A.I. Explanation:

Option 1: "Darwin believed the peacock's tail was primarily for attracting mates."

Option 2: "Wallace thought the tail advertised some quality that contributed to survival."

Option 3: "Darwin felt the tail was a significant evolutionary disadvantage."

Option 4: "Wallace agreed with Darwin that the tail was just an ornamental feature."

Option 5: "Darwin proposed 'sexual selection' as a separate mechanism of evolution."

Option 6: "Wallace believed that peahens chose mates based on their intelligence."