The saviour of men's sex lives is also doing its bit for the future of seals, seahorses, green turtles and other endangered species.

Impotency drugs such as Viagra have proven such a success with Chinese men that they are turning away from traditional therapies, say researchers.

The findings by Bill von Hippel, a psychologist at the University of NSW, and his brother Frank, a biologist at the University of Alaska, emerge from a study of 250 men, aged 50 to 76, at a Chinese medicine clinic in Hong Kong.

The brothers believe this means less demand for seal penises, which are usually ground into a potion. Or green turtles - which are turned into a soup - and their eggs, which are eaten separately. Or seahorses and pipe fish, whose entire bodies are ground down.

The entire gecko is also cooked then ground into a potion, while some species of Asian deer are valued for their musk glands. Reindeer can also provide a boost when the velvet that covers its horns is stripped away. And don't forget the multi-purpose tiger, whose bones and penis are prized.

The research received funding from Viagra's developer, Pfizer. The findings, published in Environment Conservation, are consistent with previous research by the von Hippels showing that prices for seal genitalia fell from $100 to about $20 after Viagra was introduced in 1998.
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"They have no use whatsoever for anything but the erectile dysfunction trade," Dr Bill von Hippel said. "We believe that over time it will be the same story with other animals."
But for other ailments such as arthritis, indigestion and gout, those surveyed stuck with traditional medicine.

"Erectile dysfunction was the one case where they were more likely to be currently using western medicine than Chinese medicine and nobody had switched from Viagra back to traditional therapies."

"The bottom line of this is that Viagra has huge potential to save endangered species. The men we interviewed chose the product that works best." But tigers may not be as lucky. "One tiger goes into millions of treatments. We don't think Viagra will help them."

Story and pic from here.