Page "Sexual selection" Paragraph 23

Female mating preferences are widely recognized as being responsible for the rapid and divergent evolution of male secondary sexual traits.

Females of many animal species prefer to mate with males with external ornaments-exaggerated features of morphology such as elaborate sex organs.

These preferences may arise when an arbitrary female preference for some aspect of male morphology — initially, perhaps, a result of genetic drift — creates, in due course, selection for males with the appropriate ornament.

One interpretation of this is known as the sexy son hypothesis.

Alternatively, genes that enable males to develop impressive ornaments or fighting ability may simply show off greater disease resistance or a more efficient metabolism, features that also benefit females.

This idea is known as the good genes hypothesis.