Animal Pigments

Animal allure and health linked by plant pigments.

Darwin introduced the idea that ornamental secondary sexual traits have evolved in response to female preferences for showy males. Among such traits, yellow and red carotenoid-based ornaments have been considered as particularly good candidates for explaining why and how females would benefit from mating with showy partners. Because carotenoids can be used for promotion of both health and appea...

Fossil pigments

Johan Lindgren introduces fossil pigments.

The antioxidant function of many animal pigments: are there consistent health benefits of sexually selected colourants?

Several classes of pigments impart flamboyant colours on animals, including the red, orange and yellow carotenoids. Carotenoid-based colours have served as ideal models for studying the honesty-reinforcing mechanisms underlying sexually selected traits, because the very pigments used to become colourful also have antioxidant and immunoregulatory properties that allow individuals to signal their...

Origin of Bile Pigments

S. H. ROBINSON (Boston) described a new experimental technique for studying the early labelled component of bilirubin in the ligated bile duct of the Gunn rat. Using 14C bilirubin he measured the total miscible bilirubin pool. In addition, the rate of bile pigment formation following the administration of 2-14C glycine was estimated. This allowed precise assessment of bilirubin and haem product...

The Carotenoid Pigments