Female Birds Look Plain And Drab To Ward Off Sexual Harassment

Most male birds in the wild are enviably bright and colourful while the females look plain and dull---most probably to ward off sexual harassment, surmise scientists.

While the male birds tend to be alluring due to their "plumage, markings or displays", they can also be picky about their mates. Still, the females remain plain Janes.

Earlier, researchers theorised  that the drabness of female birds is mostly due to the care taken to ward off predators. They have tried to get camouflaged, merge into the background and keep their brood safe. Still, why are they drab, to boot?

"If we accept the premise that males, while not as choosy as females, still exert some choice of mate, then the question is why don't females signal their sexual quality via ornamental sexual traits like males do?" asked David Hosken, part of the team, and a professor at the Center for Ecology & Conservation at the University of Exeter's Cornwall Campus in the United Kingdom. "We suggest that if female ornaments signaled their sexual quality, females could suffer increased sexual harassment by males and this could be especially costly to fitness."

Interestingly, the females deliberately look unattractive, disguise themselves as males or herd in areas with fewer males. Sometimes, they can even use "anti-aphrodisiacs."

"We are not suggesting that male harassment of attractive females is the only explanation for a lack of sexual ornamentation in females, but want to alert researchers to the idea that this could be a contributing factor," Hosken said.

The findings were published in the April journal Animal Behavior.