A Sexy Feel Good Story

Male New Jersey Barn Swallows have scientists and female Barn Swallows paying closer attention. It seems that a few years ago some scientists took some of their lighter colored feathered friends under their wing and helped them become sexier to the females in town by dying their light bellies a darker shade of brown that the females preferred...

The results were immediate.
The lighter colored guys with their newly colored bellies started getting a lot more sex. The scientists assumed it was just because they were now fashionably acceptable...

But it seems there's more to this story. They recently repeated the test:
(begin quote) "This time they found out that the more attractive appearance, at least in the bird world, triggered changes to the animals' body chemistry, increasing testosterone.

"Other females might be looking at them as being a little more sexy, and the birds might be feeling better about themselves in response to that," said study co-author Kevin McGraw, an evolutionary biology professor at Arizona State University.

McGraw said the findings are surprising, in part because the hormonal changes occurred after only one week.

The study was published in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology.

In the 30 male barn swallows who were darkened, testosterone was up 36 percent after one week, during a time of year when levels of that hormone would normally drop.

At the same time, testosterone levels in the 33 birds that didn't get the coloring treatment fell by half, said lead author Rebecca Safran, an evolutionary biology professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder." (end quote)

So does this mean that clothing really does make the man? I know that when I look good and feel good about myself, I feel sexier. I assume it works that way for men too...but I wonder if a new shirt would in someway affect testosterone levels in men? Or maybe it would take something a little closer to the flesh, like working on their six-pack. I think there needs to be a study...