Increased exposure to the toxic chemical mercury can affect sexual preference in certain species of birds -- inducing homosexuality, a new study has revealed.
Peter Frederick, an ecologist from the University of Florida, and Nilmini Jayasena from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka found that male American white ibises that consumed methylmercury, the most toxic and easily digested form of mercury found in the environment, were more likely to pair with other males of the species. In wild ibis populations with no mercury exposure, same-sex pairing is non-existent.
"We knew that mercury was likely to affect reproductive hormones from an earlier study," Frederick told FoxNews.com, "so we suspected some aspect of reproduction would be affected, like whether the birds came into reproductive condition or whether they were too aggressive to pair."
This poses a threat to bird populations, as fewer mating groups lead to fewer birds in future generations. It was already known that male birds that ingested mercury showed lowered levels of testosterone and showed less of a proclivity to mate. But this is the first time that there's evidence that mercury could alter an animal's sexual preference.
This is alarming news about birds. Even more alarming is the fact that even trace amounts of methylmercury -- which is notorious for turning up in groundwater near industrial operations -- can have such a substantial impact on our wildlife population.
