Like Father, Like Son
by Jackie (AP Biology)
Many animals have a type of mating call which attracts the female to them in order to mate. Do you believe that if a female is attracted to a charismatic male and they produce offspring, their offspring would be attractive as well?
Scientists have been trying to find some sort of hard evidence to be able to prove that attractiveness could be hereditary. To do this, scientists in England used the Drosophila simulans fruit fly. In this species, the female is attracted to the male by their personality and flirtations.
What kind of personality and flirtations? Well, the Drosophila male flies sometimes have a “courtship song” or a mating song that attracts the female to the male. They way that they produce these “songs” is by the movement of their wings. Certain patterns and pulses produce different types of “song” (source).
Another way that makes the males attractive is the pheromones that are produced. Pheromones are sometimes sex-specific and are released by certain glands or cells to trigger the behavioral response of the opposite sex of the same species. Specialized sensory structures or cells recognize pheromones: the neurons are thought to be responsible for the detection of pheromones in Drosophila (source).
The scientists paired the males and females together and looked at the average time it took them to mate. By using common sense, if they mated quickly, such as 5 minutes, then they concluded that those males are attractive to the females. If it took a longer time to mate, then most likely they do not have as much charisma as the other flies.
The offspring (sons) of the flies were paired with single females. They repeated their step in observing the amount of time it took them to mate. Just like the scientists thought, the attractive males that they started with, in fact, DID produce attractive sons!
After seeing this, scientists wondered if this same idea could be spread across to all species.
Does this mean attractiveness is hereditary in other insects or species as well?
David Hosken, an evolutionary biologist who worked on the study said:
Extrapolating from one species to another closely related species should be done with caution. Knowing lots about one species may tell you little about another. We must remember this when we make hypotheses of other species.
Do you believe that this kind of attractiveness that is shown in the Drosophila fruit fly is also hereditary in humans?
What similarities can you pull out between the Drosophila fruit fly and humans? Or do you think it’s impossible to pull predictions about our species from the Drosophila?
The AP Biology students are currently studying a population of Drosopila melanogaster. The picture above is of Jackie examining a sample of anesthesitized fruit flies! - Miss Baker
December 10th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
This is very interesting. I never really think about creatures like flies inheriting things from their parents. They seem like they’re all the same. I do believe this is also shown in the behavior of humans, inherited from their parents. Offspring normally inherit a lot of the same traits as their parents, not just their physical appearance. If someone’s parents are really outgoing, it is likely that their child will be outgoing as well. It is really cool to see this type of inherited traits in something as small as a fruit fly!
December 10th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
I never really though about atractiveness being hereditary and i dont necesarily think that it is tottaly based on that. Many traits are passed on from the parents to the offspring including physical traits. I definatly think it is possible that attractive traits can be passed from the parents to the offspring.
December 11th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
This is interesting but i highly doubt it has any relation to how we are attracted to each other. We, unlike flies… have personality, and the ability to change appearance. Sure this may be true for some people that base attractiveness solely on appearance, but even then, we humans can easily change appearance by simply changing our hair or wearing different clothes. So to answer your question, no, i do not think this discovery has anything to do with how we are attracted towards each other.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Richie, I like how you recognized that the human ability to alter our appearance (at least temporarily) increases complexity in mate attration. Do any other animals have this ability?
December 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Actually Mrs Baker that reminds me of the post i did on the Lyrebird. The Lyrebird would copy all the sounds he heard to impress his mate. So wouldn’t that be the same concept has us humans altering our appearance to attract other people?
December 12th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I certainly think so!
December 12th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
I could totally believe that. I think that it is pretty cool to see that animals and insects hve some of the same characteristics that some humans have. Most humans think that because animals and insects aren’t human, that they are stupid, but I think that they are probably a lot smarter than we think. I wonder if animals and insects think that humans and other species are stupid, because the way that the other species acts is different from the way that they think.
December 13th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Good post Jakie. This was really cool, when i was looking on the web i learned that a lot of other animals also change their looks and sounds. There are some eagles that will fight over for example a telephone poll. They believe that by doing this they will then own the territory and the other female eagles in that area.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Thats pretty cool. Lauren has a good point. And what if that were true about them thinking that humans are stupid. Its very interesting about how the sons of the attractive males got the same gene. Did every one of those flies gget this gene or was it most of them?
December 15th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
i really think so and lauren had a great point. and so did richie. attractiveness is about every thing in our culter. i am sure it is passed down from one person to the next but i wonder if something like this skips generations like somethings do?