Birds Are Becoming Gay From Mercury Pollution, According To New Study On White Ibis Breeding

A new study on white ibis breeding has discovered that mercury pollution is resulting in males of the species mating with each other.

Dr. Peter Frederick of the University of Florida embarked on the five-year research to determine what was significantly impacting the reproduction of the birds, but even he was stunned by the findings. "We knew mercury could depress their testosterone levels but we didn't expect this," Frederick told the Telegraph.

According to Nature.com, coal-fired plants and gold mining are the main sources of global mercury pollution, though the burning of medical and municipal waste is likely the prime culprit in Florida, ingested by the wetlands birds through their food sources.

The study used 160 young ibises split into 4 groups that were provided a diet with varying levels of mercury. 55 percent of the males given a high-mercury diet ended up nesting with other males, and the degree of homosexual pairing increased with all groups as mercury exposure likewise increased. Male birds exposed to mercury also displayed less courtship behaviors, and were less likely to be approached by females.

In a UF press release, Frederick claims that he has spent thousands of hours in the field documenting ibis mating behavior in areas with no mercury contamination, and never once witnessed males pairing with other males.

Comments

[thrugreeneyez]

01:00 AM on 12/06/2010

I will continue to avoid exposure to mercury. This is another good reason to avoid eating fish contaminated with mercury as apparently mercury acts as an endocrine disruptor and greatly interferes with development. Go vegan or at least give up fish if you can. The oceans are being overfished and so many species have reached dangerously low levels. Leave some fish in the ocean and also protect your health!

[simba1980]

09:59 PM on 12/05/2010

Fish are also becoming hermaphrodites.

"In the 1970s, scientists began detecting pharmaceutical residue in waterways, but in an era when rivers were choking on industrial sludge, traces of drugs seemed a small matter. It would take until the 1990s for that view to change. That was when pharmaceutical estrogens, principally from birth control pills, began showing up in the water too, leading to male fish with androgynous sex organs. Scarily, it did not take much estrogen to affect the fish — just 5 or 6 nanograms, or billionths of a gram, per liter of lake water."
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1976909_1976907_1976871,00.html#ixzz17IQ72t6D

It's insane to imagine what other toxic junk is in the water supply in addition to Flouride. Every pharmacy in the US instructs us to flush our unused and expired meds down the toilet. Now fish across the country are chock full of antidepressants, birth control estrogen, and of course mercury. Just passing along info that my doc told me, so I'm not looking to argue (there have been slew of hostile posters lately, and I don't flag since I am not a fan of censorship).

[Kevin Krooss]

09:53 AM on 12/05/2010

How will the Right juggle these competing priorities? Go green or go gay!!!

[justmakingcomments]

03:53 AM on 12/05/2010

What a ridiculous title to this article. Talk about inferring something that isn't so.

[Rainmaker84]

08:40 PM on 12/05/2010

The title reflects what's in the article.

[Titanshanks]

01:40 AM on 12/05/2010

Not monkeys though, right? Cause I've spent ages developing my army of flying monkeys, and given my hateful notions of morality and love of pollution I'm afraid now I might have to scrap the whole project.

[nowGo4ward]

01:35 AM on 12/05/2010

"...though the burning of medical and municipal waste is likely the prime culprit in Florida, ingested by the wetlands birds through their food sources."

Just to keep in mind other sources of mercury pollution, this sounds to me like the primary sources possibly affecting these birds are probably medical, dental, and perhaps dietary?

[elicourey]

12:10 AM on 12/05/2010

I always thought hell would have to freeze over before Republicans would care about the environment, but now I'm thinking it might just take gay birds.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

11:45 PM on 12/04/2010

Misleading headline. It's not making them gay.

[sethplatt]

07:47 PM on 12/04/2010

Hmm maybe this will get Right Wing Christians to Support Environmental Issues.

[Anarchy4hire]

04:20 PM on 12/04/2010

So the GOP will finally be supporting anti-pollution initiatives?

[brokerthanu]

01:40 AM on 12/06/2010

No. They will actively and vocally endorse bird genocide.

[George Hanshaw]

04:15 PM on 12/04/2010

So you are saying that being gay is....pathological?

[Kevin Atlanta]

02:08 PM on 12/04/2010

Thanks HP for the giggles of the week.
Gay Ibis from mercury poisoning sounds like an experiment from a Gulag in the 1930s from Mengele or whatever his name was.
It's so re-assuring to know that nature finds ways to correct and adjust, isn't it?

[Bill Bushing]

02:03 PM on 12/04/2010

Definitely not eating any more tuna or swordfish after reading this!

[blitznstitch]

06:13 PM on 12/04/2010

swordfish and tuna are beautiful species of fish - dont eat pretty animals!

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

11:43 PM on 12/04/2010

My girlfriend begs to differ.....
:-)

[The Albany Kid]

01:31 PM on 12/04/2010

Reminds me of that 1981 study by the University of Ankara (Turkey) "proving" that Disco music turned mice gay. However, this bird study appears to be much more credible.

[WendellPerrySociety]

12:49 PM on 12/04/2010

Can't wait to see the comments on this topic - in line with this story, there's an urban radio syndicated DJ named Michael Baisden who actually said on air - that some people believe that chicken is making a lot of young men gay because of the hormones put into the chicken.