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Fisherian runaway is a mechanism proposed by evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher to explain the evolution of exaggerated male ornamentation by persistent, directional female choice. When females are attracted to a certain trait within males, this trait over time gets over-emphasised because males with the trait will be selected by the female.1 Runaway and cyclic evolution are phenomena that arise because of the coevolution of preference with an attractive ornament caused by the Fisherian process. The handicap process is an important force leading to the stability of preferences for ornaments that reveal male quality.2 The runaway selection hypothesis is an explanation first proposed by Fisher in the 1930s to account for the rapid evolution of specific physical traits in male animals of certain species.
