THERE'S A REASON WHY PEOPLE DIG BEARDS AND TATTOOS AND IT'S CALLED SCIENCE.

It's no secret that many ladies find a big beard and fresh ink highly attractive, the once stereotypical 'tall, dark, and handsome' type has since been replaced with 'tall, inked and bearded' kind. And with the steady increase of men sporting glorious beard manes with bodies full of tasteful tattoos it's clear to see times have most certainly changed. Well, if you're finding yourself most attracted to the robust bearded kind there are in fact solid scientific reasons behind this...

A study published in the Evolution and Human Behaviour, researchers from the University of Western Australia analyzed around 155 species of primates to see how they may use physical ''badges'' and ''ornaments'' in order to stand out from the crowd. The discoveries found suggest that primates who live in larger societies often use more flamboyant markers to help signal their identity rank to further improve their dominance and attractiveness to the female species.

In turn the same research suggests that us humans work in a similar and somewhat familiar way too, but instead of puffing out our chests like our primitive cousins, we might use our beards and tattoos in place to stand out from the crowd. The tougher the competition becomes the wilder our beard growing and ink game may become. These being a huge part of our instinctive secondary sexual traits, in an attempt to grant us a sexual advantage ahead of any competition we may have surrounding us. So, could we be tapping into our primal instincts without knowingly doing so? makes you think I'm sure you'd agree.

The lead researcher Cyril Grueter spoke with the UWAU News and said - ''In larger groups where individuals are surrounded by strangers, we need a quick and reliable tool to better evaluate someone's strength and quality, and that is where these elaborate ornaments come in. In the case of humans, this may also include phenotypic extensions such as body decorations (tattoos, beards and piercings) and other prestige items.''

To think we as humans could be unconsciously following in our primal instincts footsteps does seem rather extraordinary I must say. After all, this sort of primal behaviour can be traced back in the evolution of mankind for over 200,000 years. If we're participating even a minute fraction to that, it is pretty damn amazing don't you think!

So, the next time you are at the bar and you catch a glimpse of special somebody admiring your beard and tats (I said TATS!) from afar, Just remember, it is all part of the human evolution chain my bearded Brother.

Well, that pretty much wraps up things for todays beard blog post. As always please let us have your thoughts and opinions in the comments section provided below!