Peacock feathers make Darwin sick

How did the peacock get such a spectacular tail? Bothered by this question, Charles Darwin wrote: 'The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!'

Some time later, though, Darwin proposed his 'theory of sexual selection' which basically says that the peacock evolved its exotic tail to attract a mate, thus helping it produce more offspring and thus increasing the numbers with attractive tails.

But a recent critical review, published in the prestigious journal Science, has pointed out that the theory has 'fatal problems' and 'needs to be replaced'.

However, other evolutionary scientists have rushed to Darwin's defense; contending that the authors 'fail to provide...a genuine alternative theory'.

But what if there is no evolutionary explanation? Perhaps the peacock tail continually evades an evolutionary explanation because it didn't evolve, but was designed, after all.