Quote of the Day--Origins of Nature's Beauty

"How can we explain the fact that animals which consistently try to remain hidden, or to repel others by their aspect, so often appear attractive, or even beautiful to us, which is the opposite of what we might expect? Should we not more often find them severely plain or repulsive, as some of them are? However, the elements of beauty--form, color, pattern and texture--are not absent from creatures that try to hide, to warn, or to repel. Feathers have such a pleasing texture that birds are seldom ugly. We enjoy the bright colors that so often proclaim unpalatability or venom. The pigments that color the exposed surfaces of animals tend to be deposited in definite patterns rather than at random. Fear need not diminish our enjoyment of cryptically or aposematically colored organisms, for most are not harmful; they ask only to be permitted to live in peace. When we add to all this our pleasure in using our eyes, recognizing forms and patterns, it is not difficult to understand why creatures that shun observation, or warn that they should not be molested, so often attract us by their beauty."
--A.F. Skutch, in his 1992 collection of essays Origins of Nature's Beauty (pp. 27-28)
This is the first of a series of interesting, usually natural history quotes I plan to post from time to time. Enjoy!