CHEMICALLY PREDISPOSED

Mercury In Environment Making Birds Turn Gay?

Staff

A FLORIDA SCIENTIST SAYS THAT MERCURY-FED IBISES FAVORED THE COMPANY of male birds over females and his finding has implications for the bird population in the wild.

Wanting to test the consequences of mercury in groundwater, Florida University researcher Peter Frederick captured 160 young white ibises and divided them into four groups.

While the control group received no mercury-laced food, three other groups were served varying quantities of methylmercury in their diets. The result: 55 percent of birds who received the highest doses of mercury snubbed females and nested with another male.

Overall, 81 percent of unproductive nests were blamed on the male-male pairing in dosed groups.

"We knew mercury could depress their testosterone levels,’ says Frederick. "‘But we didn’t expect this. In the worst-case scenario, the production of young would fall by 50 per cent.’'

Other bird species are likely to be affected similarly, though Federick cautions that there is no evidence to suggest that mercury pollution would have the same effect on the human population. But you know someone's going to go there.