The peacock’s tail and social media

Image via Wikipedia

Like a lot of things in nature, the male peacock’s tail doesn’t have a physical use. It is solely there for display and to consequently attract a mate. You probably don’t need to spend a long time looking around to see how this behaviour has carried over into humans. Simply substitute cars or clothes for tails.

So the peacock with the biggest, most resplendent tail gets his pick of the peahens, meaning evolution breeds larger and larger birds? Here’s where it gets interesting. Beyond a certain point the weight of the tail is too much for the poor peacock’s skeleton and it essentially collapses, ruining his chance of surviving. And of course, the bigger the tail the more conspicuous the bird is to predators.

What does my ornithological digression have to do with anything? Simply that seeing some people (not I hasten to say anyone reading this blog) parading their ‘knowledge’ on social media reminds me a lot of peacocks. What they say has no real substance, looks flashy and doesn’t really deliver any value. It may get them the peahen now, but unless they add substance to style they are heading towards an evolutionary dead end……….

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