We’ve all tried a bit of Dutch courage before trying our chances of mating, but it seems we’re not the only animal to use alcohol to increase the chances of copulation
Researchers believe beer goggles do exist and a drop of booze can level the playing field between the beauties and the beasts – among fruit flies, at least.
Boffins have discovered male fruit flies that drink alcohol become more attractive to females, which is why they hang around rotting fruit so much, as it gradually produces alcohol.
And they even have an ‘off switch’, meaning they get all the benefits of drink, without the hangover.
The insects, also known by the scientific name Drosophila melanogaster, are often found around food waste bins. And scientists studying why they are attracted to the alcohol believe it may to be to get lucky.
Previous research has studied different theories about the attraction to alcohol, such as the flies were seeking a euphoric state or drowning their sorrows after being rejected by females.
But scientists says this latest study suggests drinking alcohol gives the flies a “reproductive advantage”.
Study author Bill Hansson, head of the Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology at the Max Planck Institute, told the BBC: “We don’t think flies drink alcohol because they are depressed.”
Brainiacs exposed males to fermented orange and found they “significantly outperformed their competition in copulation success”
And they found that alcohol, particularly methanol, increased the males’ production and release of chemical sex signals, called pheromones, which made them more attractive to females.
Pheromones are released into the air from one individual to influence the behaviour of another animal of the same species.
Males were therefore strongly attracted to alcohol, especially those males which had never mated, the study found.
It also showed the fly’s response to smelling alcohol is controlled by three different neural circuits in its brain.
Two are responsible for attracting male flies to small amounts of alcohol and a third ensures that excessive amounts have a deterrent effect.
Because alcohol is toxic, the fly’s brain must carefully weigh the risks and benefits of drinking it, and it does this by balancing signals of attraction with aversion.
Lead author Ian Keesey, of the University of Nebraska, said: “This means that the flies have a control mechanism that allows them to get all the benefits of alcohol consumption without risking alcohol intoxication.”
The findings contrast slightly to studies on humans, which sees drinkers often have sex with someone they would never normally consider while sober.
However, as we previously reported, UK and US boffins were at loggerheads over whether people appear more attractive in drink.
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