A new study reveals how the color red on birds is a telltale sign how they are a suitable, healthy mate. Genes that are responsible for this results in red feathers even beaks and feet, that indicates a healthy immune system.

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New findings suggest that when a bird is redder than the others of the same species, it also means that it is also healthier and more effective in detoxifying. Researchers studied zebra finches where males possess a distinct red beak as female zebra finches are known to prefer males with the reddest beaks.

Bird species such as the zebra finch acquire yellow pigments known as carotenoids from eating seeds and insects. Upon digesting these pigments, their bodies transform these into red ketocarotenoids that provide color for their beaks and plumage.

According to Nick Mundy of the Department of Zoology in Cambridge University, it has been already known that birds possess the unique ability to synthesize red ketocarotenoids from yellow carotenoids with their diet, however, it has been a mystery until now what goes on among the enzyme and the genes including its anatomical process.

Researchers believe that these new findings can fill the gap between research about the evolution of birds with red coloration and their ecology.

During the study, researchers examined the genes of zebra finches with red beaks and those that with yellow beaks. Results reveal that those yellow beaked ones have multiple mutations of the three genes that cause red coloration.

This cluster has the same code for enzymes known as cytochrome P450s that serves an important part in the breakdown and metabolism of toxic compounds that are mostly found in the liver. According to co-author of the study, Staffan Andersson of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, during choosing sexual mates, the color red is a signal for the quality of an individual indicating this since particular bird can produce this color brightly, it also coincides with other physiological processes such as detoxification.

This new study is published in the journal Current Biology.

Tagswhy birds turn red, red birds, Birds, zebra finches, Genetics, zoology