1:29pm UK, Monday February 27, 2006

So gentlemen prefer blondes? Our ancestors thought so too, according to scientists.

A study claims blondes are no more than a trick of evolution to get hold of the elusive caveman.

180 blonde model gets hair done

Blondes are on the way out

Men were in particularly short supply at the end of the Ice Age 11,000 years ago.

They had to go off on long, dangerous expeditions to search for food - and they often didn't come back.

So, using female ingenuity to address the problem, women developed blonde hair and blue eyes to entice men.

But men are in for some bad news.

The report says blondes are on their way out.

With no shortage of men to choose from, the blonde gene is becoming ever rarer.

The World Health Organisation estimates the last natural blonde will be born in Finland in 2202.