The theory of evolution is the change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift. The main idea is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor. A peacock chooses a mate using sexual selection, the female choses a male for the quantity, size, and distribution of his colorful eyespots, because the offspring of these males are bigger at birth and better at surviving in the wild. These birds are peafowls, the males are peacocks, and the females are peahens. The male peacock, shows off his bright colored train to attract a female, the more impressive his tail is the better his chances are of finding a mate. Their tail feathers (coverts) are as long as the bird’s body length and with markings that look like eyes of red, gold, blue, and other hues. Their tail is used in courtship displays where they spread their tail and show it off to the females, and mating when arched out into a magnificent fan it reaches across the bird's back down to the ground on both sides. Peahens choose mates by their physical prowess and the vivid color of his tail, which lets the female know that he has high-quality genes, making him perfect for reproduction and the survival of the offspring, so when it's time to mate, these are the first ones selected. Since all males do not have bright, large tails, especially a few thousand years ago, they were less likely to mate and reproduce, so their numbers were reduced from one generation to the next, until today it is rare to see a male peacock without a brightly colored tail. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/peacock/ DODO BIRDS Advantage of its splendid isolation, its size and inability to flee from predators ushered it into extinction in an evolutionary instant. The adaptations the dodo made for island living—flightlessness and gigantism—have made understanding its evolutionary history and classifying it based on body characteristics difficult. Over the years, the dodo has been grouped with the carnivorous raptors; ratites, which include emus and ostriches; parrots; and shorebirds. Since the mid-1800s, the dodo has been classified as part of the family that includes pigeons and doves. But there has been no hard proof. Molecular analysis of DNA retrieved from a dodo specimen at the Oxford University Museum of Natural Hi, England, confirms that the bird belongs firmly in the middle of the pigeon tree in evolutionary terms, storyreports a study published in the March 1 issue of the journal Science. Its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon, which lives in the Nicobar Islands and Southeast Asia, and it is part of a group of large island-dwelling birds that spend a great deal of time on the ground. Other modern representatives include the crowned pigeons of New Guinea and the tooth-billed pigeon of Samoa.---Extreme Evolution - So why do scientists care whether a long-extinct dumb fat bird found on only one island in the whole world was related to a pigeon or an ostrich? Island taxa such as the dodo and solitaire often represent extreme examples of evolution—and if we want to examine how we, or the life around us, evolved then such animals are very educational," said Alan Cooper, a zoologist at the University of Oxford and one of the co-authorsof the study. Its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon, which lives in the Nicobar Islands and Southeast Asia, and it is part of a group of large island-dwelling birds that spend a great deal of time on the ground. Other modern representatives include the crowned pigeONS New Guinea and the tooth-billed pigeon of Samoa. The dodo, bird has a reputation as being an overweight idiot of a bird that couldn't fly. But scientific evidence is slowly giving it a new reputation, as an evolutionary success, they adapted to their living conditions, and were thin and reasonably fast, they were just a victim to the spread of man. Hunting certainly reduced their populations, but it was the animals the sailors brought with them, such as pigs, rats, and monkeys, that delivered the death blow to the species by preying upon their eggs and chicks, if not the adults. The DNA evidence does indicate that the dodo and the solitaire separated from a common ancestor about 25.6 million years ago. The common ancestor separated from other Southeast Asian birds around 42.6 million years ago. The derogatory catch phrase "Dumb as a Dodo" has lived for more than 350 years; emerging science may slowly reshape our understanding and give the long-dead bird some respect. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0227_0228_dodo.html