How do females of some bird and fish species use their sense of beauty and aesthetics to select male partners in the world of procreation? How are aesthetics an integral part of all living processes? In Week 5 of Biocivilisations, an online course with Dr. Predrag Slijepcevic, we learn about artistic agency, the intersection between aesthetics and natural processes in the animal world, and more, through examples of pufferfish, birds of paradise, and even jackal and caracal. What do we mean when we say ‘an autopoietic Gaia’?