section_path: Sex differences/Sexual dimorphism
section_name: Sexual dimorphism
paragraph_text: Sexual dimorphism
  
  In many animals and some plants, individuals of male and female sex differ in size and appearance, a phenomenon called sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism in animals is often associated with sexual selection: the mating competition between individuals of one sex vis-à-vis the opposite sex. Other examples demonstrate that it is the preference of females that drives sexual dimorphism, such as in the case of the stalk-eyed fly.
  
  Sex differences in humans include a generally larger size and more body hair in men, while women have larger breasts, wider hips, and a higher body fat percentage. In other species, there may be differences in coloration or other features, and may be so pronounced that the different sexes may be mistaken for two entirely different taxa.
  
  Females are the larger sex in a majority of animals. For instance, female southern black widow spiders are typically twice as long as the males. This size disparity may be associated with the cost of producing egg cells, which requires more nutrition than producing sperm: larger females are able to produce more eggs. In many other cases, the male of a species is larger than the female. Mammal species with extreme sexual size dimorphism, such as elephant seals, tend to have highly polygynous mating systems, presumably due to selection for success in competition with other males.
  
  Sexual dimorphism can be extreme, with males, such as some anglerfish, living parasitically on the female. Some plant species also exhibit dimorphism in which the females are significantly larger than the males, such as in the moss genus Dicranum and the liverwort genus Sphaerocarpos. There is some evidence that, in these genera, the dimorphism may be tied to a sex chromosome, or to chemical signaling from females.
  
  In birds, males often have a more colorful appearance and may have features (like the long tail of male peacocks) that would seem to put them at a disadvantage (e.g. bright colors would seem to make a bird more visible to predators). One proposed explanation for this is the handicap principle. This hypothesis argues that, by demonstrating he can survive with such handicaps, the male is advertising his genetic fitness to females—traits that will benefit daughters as well, who will not be encumbered with such handicaps.