The Sunday Read: 'Beauty of the Beasts'

<p>The bright elastic throats of anole lizards, the Fabergé abdomens of peacock spiders and the curling, iridescent and ludicrously long feathers of birds-of-paradise. A number of animal species possess beautifully conspicuous and physically burdensome features.</p><p>Many biologists have long fit these tasking aesthetic displays into a more utilitarian view of evolution. However, a new generation of biologists have revived a long-ignored theory — that aesthetics and survival do not necessarily need to be linked and that animals can appreciate beauty for its own sake.</p><p>Today on The Sunday Read, a look at how these biologists are rewriting the standard explanation of how beauty evolves and the way we think about evolution itself. </p><p><i>This story was written by <strong>Ferris Jabr</strong> and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, </i><a href="https://www.audm.com/?utm_source=nytmag&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=beauty_of_the_beasts" target="_blank"><i>download Audm for iPhone or Android.</i></a></p>