Fightin’ and makin’ sweet sweet love
3 June 2008
Feathers make the man in world of birds: study:
Writing in the journal Current Biology, Safran and colleagues said they captured 63 male barn swallows in New Jersey at the start of the breeding season, when levels of sex hormones like testosterone are typically declining.
They used a nontoxic marker to color the breast fathers of half to resemble the darkest, most attractive feathers of males within the population. They also tested the blood of the birds before releasing them.
A week later, the birds were recaptured. The marked birds had higher levels of testosterone and had lost weight, perhaps because they had been fighting and making love, the researchers said. Or perhaps they had worn themselves out trying to live up to inflated expectations, said Safran.
Her team showed in 2005 that male barn swallows given darker breast colors bred earlier in the season and fathered more young. Their mates also cheated less often with other male suitors.
Ah, so men dyeing their hair could make them more attractive? (But not Scott Weiland.) Heehee. The article says the human equivalent is like wearing a flashy suit. I’ve been trying to get Neil to buy ‘going out’ trousers (as opposed to more boring ‘work’ trousers) for ages now — maybe this will convince him.
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Are you sure you really want to make him even more attractive to other women? ;)
Comment by Terry — 3 June 2008 @ 5:47 pm
Why not lah?
Comment by Andrea — 3 June 2008 @ 6:27 pm