Handsome men evolved thanks to picky females

New Scientist ^ | 5/12/04 | Andy Coghlan

[LibWhacker]

Today's handsome hunks may owe their good looks to a sexual power shift towards the fair sex during primate evolution.

As our ancestors evolved, the ability to attract a female mate through good looks became may have become more important in the mating stakes than the ability to fight off male rivals, suggests a new study.

By analysing the shapes and sizes of facial features in chimps, gorillas and other primates, researchers in Germany and the University of Cambridge, UK, found evidence suggesting that our ancestors may have gradually sacrificed fighting for wooing.

"Our research suggests that in early humans, a face that was attractive as opposed to aggressive conferred an advantage," says Eleanor Weston at the Research Institute Senckenberg in Frankfurt, a member of the team.

She says that changes were probably driven by choosy females who began to demand handsomeness, not brute force.

Receding canines

Prominent canine teeth which still signify a male's dominance and fighting ability in many primates like baboons and gorillas, may have been replaced by less aggressive teeth and looks.

Broader faces with prominent cheekbones, not unlike those of contemporary movie stars including Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen, were picked preferentially by females.

Weston drew her conclusions after initially studying facial features of chimps and gorillas. In most primates, males have much longer canines than females, a trait that often reflects which males are dominant. This difference was much less prominent in the chimps.

Sexual selection was starting to be driven by the attractiveness of a male's face in the chimps, believes Weston, and this tallied with development of broader faces with more prominent cheekbones, plus receding canines.

The same pattern emerged when Weston unearthed facial data on other primates. Wherever males had broader faces, their canines were closer in size to those of females. The opposite was true in males with more elongated faces.

"At one end of the spectrum were humans and chimps, where mate choice may have been more important," says Weston. "At the other end where you had baboons and gorillas, competition between males may have been more important."

Weston, adds she has further, unpublished data on human faces which supports her conclusions.

[rdb3]

Naa... I look good because God made me that way.

[blackdog]

So why am I here?

[68skylark]

As our ancestors evolved, the ability to attract a female mate through good looks became more important.

Darn!

[RightWhale]

Yeah, so how do they explain the rest of us?

[cyborg]

I object to the braid removal.

[Leroy S. Mort]

Thank you, ladies :-)

[johnfrink]

This articles fails to address an evolutionary reason for it, though. The females would not have suddenly decided that they liked some look better than others--they would have had some reason for deciding that males with that look would be more likely to reproduce than the others, and hence would have selected them. This author makes it sound like they woke up one day and thought, "hmm, the bulky aggressive look is out!"

(It's a pet peeve of mine that so few journalists who write about evolution seem to understand the way that it actually works!)

[rrrod]

Us handsome guys are always a point of wonder. Wouldnt it be great if women would respect us for our minds instead of our looks?..Women can be soooo shallow!

sarcasm off

[Larry Lucido]

Perhaps those of us in the "visually challenged" department compensate by other means: superior intellect, cunning, big feet...whatever.

[small voice in the wilderness]

I thought it was big feet that attracted women.;^)

[SpaceBar]

Probably was true at one time before the discovery of alcohol.

[Larry Lucido]

The opposite was true in males with more elongated faces.

[FITZ]

Money.

[LibWhacker]

Good question! :-)

And I notice the author doesn't address the complimentary riddle . . . Why aren't more women . . . um . . . like, 42Ds? Evolution works both ways.

[Enduring Freedom]

Life is unfair.

Being the handsome devil I am, I can only thank GOD it is unfair in my favor!

[Larry Lucido]

Well, I was blessed with neither money, looks or superior intellect. Guess I'll have to go with "big feet."

[dartuser]

All that is needed to complete the "scientific proof" that you seek is for most 'scientists' in that field to agree that its a possible explanation.

QED

[Enduring Freedom]

That was cruel!

But true!

[orionblamblam]

> the "visually challenged" department compensate by other means: superior intellect

A wild ass guess: a larger brain Way Back When might have been linked with a shorter "snout." And the fems were able to pick up on the fact that the Homo Erectus nerd was able to fashion a pointy stick, while the Homo Erectus jock couldn't.

Just a guess.