![]() ![]() The birds in the first group received 0.05 parts per million (ppm) of mercury in their feed, while the second and third groups received up to 0.3 ppm. The fourth group received control feed without mercury. Each group was composed of 20 males and 20 females, and after 90 days, the first three groups received either low, medium or high doses of mercury in their feed. So the team collected 160 of the birds from breeding colonies in South Florida and divided them up into four test groups. Peter Frederick, an ecologist at UFG, and his colleagues wanted to see how methylmercury, which is often hiding in wetlands and other natural environments, is affecting ibises. What has otherwise never been observed in wild ibises, homosexual behavior, was observed for the very first time in carefully controlled tests, suggesting that determined sexual orientation could have a chemical component. Published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, this study reveals that methylmercury, the most toxic and easily absorbed form of mercury found in the environment, is capable of literally altering sexual preference, at least in ibises. ![]() Not only this, mercury exposure was also found to cause some male ibises to pair up with other males rather than females, exhibiting a type of chemical-induced homosexuality that is rarely the topic of scientific inquiry. (NaturalNews) In a rather bizarre, and perhaps even controversial, study that looked at the mating behavior of ibises, a tropical bird species that to some extent resembles a seagull, researchers from the University of Florida, Gainesville, (UFG) found that exposure to mercury disrupts the birds' endocrine systems and leads to decreased offspring.
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