Because they’re worth it

MEN don flattering outfits to disguise their physical limitations while ladies daub their faces with lipstick and creams.

It’s a time-honoured strategy for securing a partner.

Birds are great exponents of glamorous self-presentation but, unlike us, they’re not complete liars. They don’t, for example, stoop to wearing make-up, or so it was thought until recently.

Only one species was suspected of using cosmetics. The lammergeier, Europe’s rarest vulture, lives in the Pyrénées and the mountains of Greece. Famously, it smashes the bones of dead animals by lifting them into the air and dropping them onto rocks.

The bone-breaker’s plumage appears brown but, after heavy rain, it turns white. This intrigued researchers who examined the feathers under electron microscopes. The texture was found to be white with a coating of iron-rich dust giving the reddish tint.

The vultures come into contact with the dust when visiting cliff ledges. They preen the powder onto the feathers. When rain washes the dust away, preening begins again. It can take up to six days to restore the colour. This might well be a case of avian cosmetic use, but there’s an alternative explanation: the coating of dust may help to reduce wear and tear of the feathers.

But now, also from Spain, comes more compelling evidence of birds using make-up. It seems that one of Europe’s most exotic species, the greater flamingo, regularly resorts to the cosmetic box. A study by the Estación Biologica de Doñana in Seville shows that male flamingos generate make-up within their bodies and secrete it from oil glands.

Carotenoids, pigments found in carrots, are derived from the crustaceans which the flamingos eat in the salty lagoons of southern Europe and Africa.

Having genuine bright pink feathers indicates that the wearer is ‘doing well’.

Such a bird is healthy wealthy and wise. It has the resources for ‘the good life’ and prospective partners will welcome its overtures.

The Spanish research shows that individuals with brighter colours secure mates earlier than duller ones. They are the first to nest. Being ahead of the posse in the breeding stakes, they get the best nest locations and their youngsters are born with silver spoons in their mouths.

Using make-up as a ‘signal enhancer’ is therefore a useful, if dishonest, strategy. The bright colours don’t last long. The cosmetic effect wears off in a matter of days but, by then, the pair bond has been established.

People of a flirtatious disposition tend to use more make-up than the rest of us, but is it the same for birds? The ruff, a medium-sized wader which breeds in Britain but not in Ireland, is the most promiscuous species in this part of the world.

To obtain a succession of partners, males sport some of the most elaborate and varied outfits to be found among birds.

Cock pheasants, too, appear in gaudy apparel as they attempt to seduce hens into joining their harems. Neither of these species, however, resorts to cosmetics.

It was thought, until recently, that the greater flamingo’s domestic arrangements were fairly traditional. Captive couples, at any rate, stay together for life. In 1977, the prestigious Birds of the Western Palearctic stated that the pair-bond was “monogamous, probably life-long”.

If so, flamingos should have little use for cosmetics. Recent observations, however, show that, in fact, greater flamingos change mates frequently and may even do so between breeding attempts during the same season.

With colonies holding thousands of pairs, temptation is rife. It’s therefore understandable that flamingos resort to cosmetics to improve their mating prospects. As they say, all is fair in love and war.