LEADER 03535oam 2200505K 450 001 9910826005903321 005 20190503073446.0 010 $a0-262-35335-0 035 $a(CKB)4100000008095394 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC5755782 035 $a(OCoLC)1082364415 035 $a(OCoLC-P)1082364415 035 $a(MaCbMITP)11922 035 $a(PPN)238416704 035 $a(FR-PaCSA)88868464 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000008095394 100 $a20190116d2019 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aAnimal beauty $eon the evolution of biological aesthetics /$fChristiane Nu?sslein-Volhard ; illustrated by Suse Gru?tzmacher ; translated by Jonathan Howard 210 1$aCambridge :$cThe MIT Press,$d2019 215 $a1 online resource (123 pages) 311 $a0-262-03994-X 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references. 327 $aPart 1: Evolution and aesthetics -- Evolution -- Beauty -- Ornament -- Aesthetics -- Communication -- Pattern recognition -- Part 2: The development of colors and patterns -- Colors -- Skin -- Making patterns -- Pigment cells -- Zebrafish -- Evolution of beauty. 330 $aAn illustrated exploration of colors and patterns in the animal kingdom, what they communicate, and how they function in the social life of animals. Are animals able to appreciate what humans refer to as "beauty" The term scarcely ever appears nowadays in a scientific description of living things, but we humans may nonetheless find the colors, patterns, and songs of animals to be beautiful in apparently the same way that we see beauty in works of art. In An imal Beauty, Nobel Prize-winning biologist Christiane Nusslein-Volhard describes how the colors and patterns displayed by animals arise, what they communicate, and how they function in the social life of animals. Watercolor drawings illustrate these amazing instances of animal beauty. Darwin addressed the topic of ornament in his 1871 book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, and did not hesitate to engage with criteria of beauty, convinced that animals experienced color and ornament as attractive and agreeable in the same way that we do, and that the role this played in mate choice pointed to a "sexual selection" distinct from natural selection. Nusslein-Volhard examines key examples of ornament and sexual selection in the animal kingdom and lays the groundwork for biological aesthetics. Noting that color patterns have not been a research priority-perhaps because they appeared to be nonessential luxuries rather than functional necessities--Nusslein-Volhard looks at recent scientific developments on the topic. In part because of Nusslein-Volhard's own research on the zebrafish, it is now possible to decipher the molecular genetic mechanisms that lead to production of colors in animal skin and its appendages and control its pattern and distribution. 606 $aEvolution (Biology) 606 $aNature (Aesthetics) 606 $aSexual selection in animals 615 0$aEvolution (Biology) 615 0$aNature (Aesthetics) 615 0$aSexual selection in animals. 676 $a576.8 700 $aNu?sslein-Volhard$b C$g(Christiane),$01679713 702 $aGru?tzmacher$b Suse 702 $aHoward$b Jonathan 801 0$bOCoLC-P 801 1$bOCoLC-P 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910826005903321 996 $aAnimal beauty$94048158 997 $aUNINA