It was long suspected, and now a new study confirms that attractiveness is hereditary. And sexy dads will produce sexy sons -- at least in the insect world.
LONDON: It was long suspected, and now a new study confirms that attractiveness is hereditary. And sexy dads will produce sexy sons -- at least in the insect world.
The study, by researchers at the University of Exeter, focussed on the fruit fly to arrive a their conclusion, Sciencedaily.com reported.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest edition of the journal Current Biology.
The study paired male and female fruit flies at random and found the length of time it took for them to mate ranged from just two minutes to two hours.
Female fruit flies need to make themselves accessible to males for mating to take place, so males cannot force copulation. Therefore, the speed at which mating occurs can be taken as an indication of the attractiveness of the male to his female partner.
After males had mated with around three females each, their sons -- who were full and half brothers -- were paired with single females.
Again, the time for copulation to occur was recorded. This allowed the researchers to look at the genetic component of attractiveness. They found that attractiveness is hereditary, passed on from father to son.
The study indicates that one benefit females may enjoy by mating with attractive males is that they will produce 'sexy' sons, which are more likely to be successful in mating.
"Attractiveness probably can't be defined by individual characteristics, so there is no single physical attribute that female fruit flies are looking for in a mate. However, there is clearly a benefit to females in having sexy sons that are more likely to attract a mate and produce offspring," said David Hosken, who led the study.
The researchers believe the findings could apply to other species.
"It's possible that attractiveness is hereditable across the animal kingdom. It could even be the case in humans that the sexiest dads also have the most desirable sons, which would probably be bad news for my boy," said Hosken.
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