alt Hacker NewsIs that the right criteria? A trait must be completely, 100% disqualifying as a mate or else it sticks around?
Our ancestors used to have tails. We no longer have tails. Plenty of people wear artificial tails today and get laid, it's not a 100% disqualifying trait
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Our primate ancestors required tails so they could effectively move around on trees. A tree dweller without a functional tail is slower and has a harder time gathering food and escaping from predators. That's a very strong selection pressure that ends up maintaining the tail.
When the woods in eastern Africa changed into savannah, we shifted to two legs and adopted a persistence hunting strategy. The tail became useless, even a liability, and mutations that resulted in reduced tails were not selected against anymore.
>Plenty of people wear artificial tails today and get laid
…Do they? What did I miss?
Natural selection doesn't require 100% disqualifying, it just needs a slight preference and a shit load of time.