Animal Beauty: On the Evolution of Biological Aesthetics

The MIT Press RRP $29.99

ONE OF THE WAYS in which the human race is different from the rest of the animal kingdom is its ability to find pretty much anything beautiful: not just members of the same species and their artefacts, but things in the natural world ranging from mountain vistas to flamingos.

In this compact little volume, developmental biologist and Nobel laureate Christiane NüssleinVolhard shows that in many non-human species, an appreciation of beauty is a strong driver for reproduction. The difference, of course, is that aesthetics for birds and fish and mammals, and even insects, is wholly an intra-specific matter. A peacock-spider doesn’t give two hoots about the plumage of a peacock-bird.

Pea-hens do, however. A big, flashy tail on a male only has purpose because it is seen, and judged, by a female in search of a mate. Display feathers (or fins, or skin colouration) are expensive things – they require energy to maintain and make their owners visible and vulnerable to predation. On balance, however, and here Nüsslein-Volhard cites Darwin as a pioneering witness in the matter, they increase the chances of reproductive success.

As perhaps befits the director of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, in Tübingen, Germany, the author’s text can be a

little dry and no-nonsense at times, but this effect is admirably compensated for by lovely, whimsical, but illustrative watercolour pictures by Suse Grützmacher. It is a clever tactic by publishers MIT Press, making the book – small in dimensions, hard-covered, and just 116 pages – an exercise in the very beauty it concerns.

The topic of aesthetics in nature, NüssleinVolhard notes early on, is extremely broad, and examples fit for analysis abound. Sensibly, however, she limits herself to only a handful of specifics, and approaches her topic by theme, looking at colouration, communication, ornament, and so forth. The exception is the zebra-fish, which warrants its own, concluding, chapter.

Humans, however, remain the measure of all things.

“To humans,” she writes, “the most widely different patterns can be beautiful, even those that excite dread in other animals, such as warming patterns.”

Thought-provoking in its content, undaunting in its size, and attractive in its appearance, Animal Beauty is a welcome addition to pop-biology. Like a puppy in a basket, it’s a lovely little thing.