It’s Evolution, Baby

Some may say that going from super stylish clothes to sweatpants is a downward progression. But maybe it’s actually an upwards one. Coiffed city gal Laura, from Project Runway Season 3, may have feared being a sloppily dressed mom, but it turns out evolution has already put plenty of females in the animal kingdom into nature’s “sweats.” While many female animals have the less showy appearance of their species, oddly enough, the males tend to get the fancy dress — like mallard ducks with their bright emerald feathers. Darwin thought that over time the boys had developed those traits to attract the girls, like glam rockers that use guyliner. But now Krushnamegh Kunte, a biologist at the University of Texas, Austin, has discovered that females were the ones that evolved into their lackluster looks as a defense mechanism. Ha! We’ve all been cat-called while wearing a mini-skirt, but as a mother in the wild, you really don’t want to attract any attention, mostly because predators would have you and your babies for dinner. So, over the ages, maternalism helped females survive by letting their looks go, and, in many cases, grow to resemble similar animals that are poisonous. Since their appearance seems noxious and repulsive, they get passed over by predators. Score one for the ladies! [Science Now]