National Geographic Daily News  An adult Houbara bustard (file
photo).  Photograph by Adeline Loyau, UFZ/CNRS  Caption: Females
that observed highly displaying male birds in the experiment
were more fertile and had a greater breeding success due to an
increased allocation of testosterone into their eggs, leading to
an increase in the growth rate in chicks.Credit: Photo: Adeline
Loyau, UFZ/CNRS  A Houbara bustard chick. Photograph by Adeline
Loyau, UFZ/CNRS  Ker Than  for National Geographic News
Published June 29, 2010  Watching attractive males strut their
stuff makes female birds more fertile and leads to healthier
chicks, a new study suggests.  The finding could help improve
breeding programs for endangered or threatened birds, because it
highlights the importance of mating displays, scientists say.
French researchers studied the mating success of the Houbara
bustard, a sandy-colored desert bird found throughout parts of
northern Africa and Asia. The species is listed as
"vulnerable"—considered to be fac