Sexual Selection: A Very Short Introduction

Sexual selection, Darwin's other big idea, is the selection for particular traits and behaviours that results from (usually) female choice and male competition. It can produce flamboyant features, such as the peacock's tail, which would seem to be detrimental to survival. This book explores our understanding of how sexual selection works.

Marlene Zuk is Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She has researched sexual selection for 25 years. In addition to authoring many scholarly articles, Zuk has written four books for general readers, including Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can't Learn About Sex from Animals (2002, University of California Press) and Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love and Language from the Insect World (a New York Times "Editor's Choice"). Her work has appeared in a wide variety of science magazines as well as the Wall Street Journal, and other general outlets.

Leigh W Simmons is professor in the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia, and Director of the UWA Centre for Evolutionary Biology. She has worked for nearly 40 years on sexual selection, primarily in insects, but also in frogs and mammals, including humans. Leigh is the author of Sperm Competition (2001, Princeton University Press), and co-wrote Ecology and Evolution of Dung Beetles (2011, Wiley-Blackwell) with T. James Ridsdill-Smith, and The Evolution of Insect Mating Systems (2014, Oxford University Press) with David M Shuker.