Testosterone Makes a Canary Want to Sing
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ene/Thinkstock(BALTIMORE) — Can a little extra testosterone make a guy sing like a bird?
Perhaps not, but scientists have apparently shown that the steroid hormone that stimulates development of male secondary sexual characteristics might motivate him to sing more, particularly if the male is a canary.
Since a canary uses his song to attract females, scientists wanted for find out if a targeted testosterone shot would make a bird’s song more enticing to the opposite sex.
Johns Hopkins University researchers conducted a study by injecting testosterone into the areas of male canaries’ brains that affect sexual motivation, while two other groups either received a general injection into the brain or nothing at all.
What happened was that the birds that received the specific injections sang more frequently, but the quality was no better than canaries that weren’t given the hormone.
Meanwhile, the canaries that got testosterone to all parts of the brain sang the best and, as a result, seemed more attractive to females.
Thus, it appears that a guy who uses his entire brain rather than just the part driven by sex seems to have better luck with the ladies.
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