Many wildflowers are very beautiful, meaning that they have highly developed aesthetic values. Some of these traits, such as showy color, size, and fragrance clearly give a flower great competitive advantage in attracting pollinators. There are other aesthetic values-- composition and symmetry-- for which no competitive advantage is apparent. (To me, at least.) But, composition and symmetry (as artistic values) are highly developed in many wild flowers, and some of these are only pollinated by insects. Should we conclude from this that insects can "appreciate art," or is there some other "scientific" explanation? Dare we allow a non-scientific explanation? I understand that beauty and its recognition is a powerful selector in man, but I think I can confine the issue to just the flowers. Forgive me if ignorance has allowed me to bring up a question with an easy answer. Ernie Rogers
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