"The male pheasant is brightly colored" VS "A male pheasant is brightly colored" — When to use "the male" and when to use "a male"? [duplicate]

Question

britannica.com:
(1) The male pheasant is brightly colored and the female is mostly brown.

I don't understand why "the" can be used here.

my variant:
(2) A male pheasant is brightly colored and a female is mostly brown.

What is the difference between (1) and (2)?

Answer 1

That use of "the" is used in formal English. Yours is grammatical but not formal.

• The male pheasant is brightly colored and the female is mostly brown.
• The car of the future will be electric.
• The bed was crucial in Western history.
• The arrowhead was an early manmade tool.

The the determiner is used for a category of object or animal. The same meaning is given by using a plural: Males pheasants are brightly colored. Cars of the future will be electric. This use of the to designate a category is common in formal journalistic writing and in academic writing.

Answer 2

In old-fashioned formal language, when discussing a category of things in general, the definite article and singular is used. In my experience this is only really found in very formal writing these days, and it would be surprising to hear it in speech.

More typically in modern language, the plural is used with no article at all. This generally emphasises the unity of the category.

Using the indefinite article and singular (your suggested alternative) is also possible. This generally emphasises the individual examples of the category.

That leaves the following options, all of which are valid and mean (broadly) the same thing.

Formal, old-fashioned:

• The male pheasant is brightly colored and the female is mostly brown.

Modern:

• Male pheasants are brightly colored and females are mostly brown.

Alternative modern:

• A male pheasant is brightly colored and a female is mostly brown.

Answer 3

"a male pheasant" is a somewhat colloquial way of referring to the species and "the male pheasant" is a somewhat formal way of doing the same.

In conversation, "a" would be perfectly idiomatic :

A Sheltie is a herding dog.

and in a more formal context, let's say "expert" commentary on a televised national dog show, you'd probably hear this:

The Sheltie is a herding breed.

Answer 4

"The" one is used when you are describing a male you have already mentioned before. In other words, you use "the" when you are sure the readers know which male you are actually talking about. Readers would think of this:
the male you said before......
Whereas "a" is used when you are describing a new idea to the reader. Readers would think of this when seeing the second sentence you provide:
there is a male pheasant which is brightly colored...
Then the readers get to know a new character: male pheasant➡️brightly colored.