For male Houbara bustards
, extravagant sexual displays come with a price: rapid sexual aging. By studying over 1,700 North African Houbara bustards
, researchers in France have learned that the birds, by age six, already begin producing smaller ejaculates with a large number of dead and abnormal sperm. The more showy the bustard, the quicker he burns himself out. As lead researcher Brian Preston said in a prepared statement
:
This is the bird equivalent of the posers who strut their stuff in bars and nightclubs every weekend. If the bustard is anything to go by, these same guys will be reaching for their toupees sooner than they'd like.
[Read more about these peculiar birds and see a video of one of their seductive dances at the BBC
.]
Image courtesy of Frank. Vassen / Flickr
