[Big Al]

Marked-up birds become sexier, exude testosterone
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

A little strategically placed makeup quickly turns the wimpiest of male barn swallows into chick magnets, amping up their testosterone and even trimming their weight, new research shows.

It's a "clothes make the man" lesson that — with some caveats — also applies to human males, researchers say.
Using a $5.99 marker, scientists darkened the rust-colored breast feathers of male New Jersey barn swallows, turning lighter birds to the level of those naturally darkest. They had already found, in a test three years ago, that the marked-up males were more attractive to females and mated more often. This time they found out that the more attractive appearance, at least in the bird world, triggered changes to the animals' body chemistry, increasing testosterone.

"Other females might be looking at them as being a little more sexy, and the birds might be feeling better about themselves in response to that," said study co-author Kevin McGraw, an evolutionary biology professor at Arizona State University. McGraw said the findings are surprising, in part because the hormonal changes occurred after only one week.
The study was published in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology. In the 30 male barn swallows who were darkened, testosterone was up 36 percent after one week, during a time of year when levels of that hormone would normally drop.

At the same time, testosterone levels in the 33 birds that didn't get the coloring treatment fell by half, said lead author Rebecca Safran, an evolutionary biology professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "It's the `clothes make the man'" idea, Safran said. "It's like you walk down the street and you're driving a Rolls Royce and people notice. And your physiology accommodates this." Before you feel superior to these birds, Safran cautioned, people's mating systems are more similar to birds' than we might like to admit.

Barn swallows are "socially monogamous and genetically promiscuous, same as humans," she said. "There are some interesting parallels, but we do need to be careful about making them." In people, hormonal changes have been observed after changes in behavior. A 1998 study found that loyal male fans of sports teams experienced a 20 percent rise in testosterone when their teams won. The researchers aren't certain how the testosterone boost happens. It could be that because of the darkened color, the birds mate more often and that changes their testosterone levels.
It could also be that because of the darkened color, other males think the pecking order has changed and that boosts the darker swallows' hormone levels. Or it could be both. The authors said figuring out which theory is right is the next step. The birds' weight loss is more easily explained, Safran said. The more macho swallows could be spending more time mating than eating or working off the calories, she said.

Most of the time it's the hormones that change the behavior or appearance, but this work shows "it can go more than one way," said study co-author James Adelman, a Princeton University researcher. "It certainly is a very new and interesting finding," said Cornell University psychology and neurobiology professor Elizabeth Adkins-Regan, who had no role in the study.

[kingpole]

Im going to change the color of my feathers.

[jordan485]

interesting read, but im confused..........lol

so correct me if im wrong but is it saying that changing apperance and attracting attention from chicks will boost testosterone???

ive always thought confidence was the key to everything regardless of testosterone, although a jacked guy (high test) will be more confident and cocky

having a large man organ will make guys more confident, because they know they can satisfy and "ram" any woman they can.


lol sorry bout the slang =P

[Big Al]

Originally Posted by jordan485

interesting read, but im confused..........lol

so correct me if im wrong but is it saying that changing apperance and attracting attention from chicks will boost testosterone???

ive always thought confidence was the key to everything regardless of testosterone, although a jacked guy (high test) will be more confident and cocky

having a large man organ will make guys more confident, because they know they can satisfy and "ram" any woman they can.


lol sorry bout the slang =P

I think it's more of a feedback mechanism: Dress better & pay closer attention to your posture, etc. > More females are attracted to you > Boosts self-esteem (& testosterone) > Repeat at subsequently higher levels.

[kingpole]

I will just walk around naked then, they can look at my six inch flaccid that ought to exude some testosterone, hehehehe! I discovered I have no feathers.

[Dingdong]

I don't think you have to dress like a dandy, or in modern parlance, a metrosexual. However, grooming yourself well and wearing clean clothes that fit your body type will definitely make you feel more confident. And because the mind influences how our bodies react, that in itself could very well increase testosterone. Interesting article.

For me, running hills or doing squats always seem to increase my testosterone level. I'm 42 and when I get done with a fast, medium-distance run with some good hill work, I almost always feel just as horny as I did when I was in my early twenties. Good stuff.

[shane_syndrome]

A while back in either a flex magazine or a muscle mag i read that there was a test done where some young men 18-24 where taken in a empty room to take a test with an attractive girl in her early 20's not knowing they where the test and after a half hour of flirting the males testosterone was increased by 20-30%