Frozen Evolution. Or, that’s not the way it is, Mr. Darwin. A Farewell to Selfish Gene.

As the existence of handicaps could represent a disproportionate burden for individuals with suboptimum phenotype, the males of a great many species have a number of strategies for expression of these traits. If the male is of good quality, either because of its genes or because it had good conditions for its development (for example in the larval stage), its secondary sexual traits are fully expressed.  However, when the male is of poorer quality, the secondary sexual traits are not expressed at all and the males then look the same as the females (Sauer et al. 1997; Bass, Horvath, & Brothers 1996; Brantley, Wingfield, & Bass 1993). Of course, these males then subordinate their reproductive strategy to their phenotype. Rather than competing directly with the other males, these so-called “sneakers” try to approach the females to a close distance unobserved and to wait for a suitable reproduction opportunity. This phenomenon is known not only amongst elk, but also amongst a great many species of insects and fish. Amongst fish, for example, a male masked in this way may attempt to release its milt in the vicinity of a reproducing pair, amongst insects they can “save their strength” and “bet” that they will live to an older age than the more active males in the population and that their opportunity will come at the end of the reproduction season. In other species of fish, dwarf males already reach maturity in the third season, while large males, capable of defending their own territory, reach maturity several seasons later (Williams 1992). According to some concepts (Macintyre & Estep 1993), homosexuality or, to be more exact, bisexuality, as known for humans and many other animal species, is an alternative reproduction strategy that works on a similar principle.