Abstaining Boobies Get “Sexier” | National Geographic

blue footed boobies are best known for
their bright blue webbed feet
prominently displayed in a courtship
dance the male’s blue feet are important
in attracting females a new study shows
that while attractiveness of the blue
feet diminishes with age in males that
reproduce each year if males skip a
breeding season and don’t mesh they
displayed a more attractive foot color
and had more green chroma breeding for
these tropical fevers involves more than
just the mating itself boobies have a
long period of by parental care in other
words the males are active participants
in raising their young the eggs are
incubated for 45 days and chicks stay
with their parents for a four-month
rearing period the study published in
the Royal Society’s Biology Letters was
conducted by researchers from University
of Vigo in Spain and the National
Autonomous University of Mexico they
studied more than 100 male blue footed
boobies over a total of six months in
2004 and 2005 on Mexico’s Isla Isabel
and measured their green chroma using a
spectrophotometer they concluded that
it’s likely the sabbaticals from
reproducing offspring may allow the male
boobies to physically recover and
display brighter feet in their quest in
finding a mate
you