Flashier Great Tits (type of bird) Produce Stronger Sperm, Bird Study Shows

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Just so you know supplements can cause problems in comparison to eating the actual plant source. So beta carotene on it's own can be worse for you compared to eating carrots or lycopene has to be from eating tomatoes -- not supplements, etc.

reply to post by Arbitrageur



Listen...I'm still trying to figure out what "tat" is so I can trade it for the other. Now you've gone and thrown birds and sperm into the mix. Ahhhhh, the lighter side of ATS.
Seeashrink

Well, perhaps THIS thread will look interesting my web history.
In all seriousness, however, I find it interesting that no matter how much humans "evolve" we will always be subject to the basic, primal "needs" that haunt. . .I mean. . .define us.

Half of you don't realize that a great tit is a species of bird?

Or are you all purposefully exaggerating?

[edit on 14-2-2010 by Scarcer]

Ok, Folks. We've had our fun.

Please refrain from further obvious off topic innuendos or tasteless jokes.

TIA

Originally posted by drew hempel
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

Just so you know supplements can cause problems in comparison to eating the actual plant source. So beta carotene on it's own can be worse for you compared to eating carrots or lycopene has to be from eating tomatoes -- not supplements, etc.

Well eating the supplement may not be as good as the actual source, but in this study the supplement helped strengthen the sperm of the subjects who got it, so it still has some effectiveness:

This "vitamin supplement" improved the drabber males' sperm quality—strengthening the link between carotenoids and sperm strength, Helfenstein said.

Originally posted by bladebosq
most epic thread title ever!!!

Because "females cannot always get the [colorful] males they want," he said, the females will often settle for a less flashy mate.

But the females will still sneak off for a rendezvous with a better-looking male—and a dose of better sperm.

those naughty great tits! i just find that fascinating!

Yes and I wouldn't be surprised if that part of the study also was applicable to humans, though I doubt some aspects of the study are such as this one:

Originally posted by loam
Gentlemen. Isn't the simple solution for us to invest in large cans of yellow spray paint?

That's funny, but I don't think it will help humans

I've always wondered why such bright colors evolved when they make the animals more visible to predators, I guess we are starting to get a better idea about the reason from this study.

Overall, the study has begun to unravel the century-long mystery of why males often boast brazen colors, even though it makes the birds more conspicuous to predators, Helfenstein said.

"It adds a bit of understanding to this puzzle."

So you're more likely to get a mate, but more likely to get eaten, that's some tradeoff right?

Are we talking about man boobs here? I never thought that would be a topic on ats.

reply to post by Arbitrageur



What I want to know is…

Why do us men, refer to woman, as birds and chicks and stuff…

Is this some subliminal way, of keeping our sperm count higher…

lol


- JC

Originally posted by Joecroft
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

What I want to know is…

Why do us men, refer to woman, as birds and chicks and stuff…

Is this some subliminal way, of keeping our sperm count higher…

lol


- JC

Slightly off topic but not as bad as the other off topic posts that made the mods move this thread from the science forum to the members forum. Anyway I was curious too so I did a search which found:

wiki.answers.com...

The word chick is a short form for chicken and its use in American slang to refer to a young woman is attributed to Sinclair Lewis' book Elmer Gantry (1927)

He had determined that marriage now would cramp his advancement in the church and that, anyway, he didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick, who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners. But that caution he had utterly forgotten in emotion, and her question was authentically a surprise, abominably a shock

Now that doesn't exactly explain why Sinclair Lewis picked that particular terminology.

Are we talking about man boobs here? I never thought that would be a topic on ats.

"Moobs" (or man-boobs) are strictly a BTS topic...

However, the original post, is completely an on-topic science issue, despite the catchy title, so moving it back to science.

[edit on 18-2-2010 by Gazrok]

Well this thread certainly is going nowhere...

I don't really see the point

Originally posted by watchZEITGEISTnow
Well this thread certainly is going nowhere...

I can't argue with that, I try to start a serious thread and all people want to do is crack jokes

You gave me a great laugh.

While I love birds, and I realise you are serious, I just had to laugh about those flashier great tits.

So I have to say thank you, for making my day.

It did say that in research men with better looking faces tend to have better sperm.

So Handsome Great Faces Produce Stronger Sperm, Studies Show.

In that case , people like Anderson Cooper, Brad Pitt, and others. But that's just the cute variety. (as I'm told) What about the rugged variety? Since I'm not a women, I cannot comment.

I clicked the link because I thought it was about breasts.

I wonder how they discovered that brighter colors lead to better fertility? The research in the link says that the brighter colors are the result of an increased anti-oxidant. This helps them to maintain good quality sperm in times of stress. So here we have a case of natural selection.

You would think though that over time more and more birds would have brighter and flashier breasts because of natural selection. The article does mention that females will still pick paler breasts because of of limitations in availability in brighter ones. So I wonder what prevents -all- male birds from having brighter, flashier breasts? I mean, with each generation the females are going after the brighter ones. So why do the paler ones still stick around. What's the reason.