Related Content: 80beats: Danish Astronomer Tycho Brahe Gets a Postmortem, 400 Years Late 'If the effect was as strong in humans as in the ibises, they'd have found it,' Frederick says. In particular, there's no evidence for increased homosexuality in humans resulting from mercury poisoning, despite several long-term studies. Other birds would probably be similarly affected, though both Frederick and Scheuhammer say it's far from clear whether other animal groups would be.

But sorting out a particular effect is not easy, nor is predicting how it manifests in other species. Mercury is known to disrupt hormonal activity, and that may be the key. Frederick and Jayasena can't say for sure what mechanism underlies mercury's ability to scramble an ibis's sexual preferences. , where the ibises live, possess the year-round warm climate that's ideal for the methylation of elemental mercury into methylmercury, the BBC reports In people, who primarily ingest the compound by eating contaminated fish and wildlife, 'it affects the immune system, alters genetic and enzyme systems, and damages the nervous system, including coordination and the senses of touch, taste, and sight.' The Everglades

Geological Survey writes in its briefer about mercury in the environment 'Methylmercury is the most toxic form' of mercury, the U.S. Males that engaged in homosexual parings were also less likely to switch partners from year to year, which Frederick says ibises tend to do if they have been unsuccessful in mating during their first breeding season. As the level of mercury exposure increased, so did the degree and persistence of homosexual pairing. Some ate 0.3 parts per million of mercury, some 0.1, some 0.05, and some none at all.īirds exposed to any mercury displayed courtship behaviour less often than controls and were also less likely to be approached by females when they did.

They gathered 160 of the birdsĪnd broke them up into four groups that ate food laced with different concentrations of methylmercury. In the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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