Meeting Abstract
Cognitive processes play a major role in a multitude of behaviors, including foraging behavior, parental care, and predator avoidance. Despite the impacts of cognition on individual fitness, the action of sexual selection on cognitive traits remains poorly understood. In socially monogamous species in which males contribute heavily to the raising of offspring, females obtain direct benefits through male parental care. Male cognitive skills will directly impact offspring survival and quality by the ability to obtain resources and coordinate reproductive efforts with their mate. Thus, it is expected that females might select males that show high cognitive performance. We tested the hypothesis that females prefer males with higher cognitive abilities in a small parrot, the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus). 30 male budgerigars were tested on four cognitive tasks: problem solving, spatial memory, detour reaching, and seed discrimination. We also measured four personality traits (neophobia, exploration, sociability, and aggressiveness) and male body size. Male mating success was determined with a free-pairing experiment: Five mixed groups of six randomly selected males and three females each were formed to test female mate choice. Males exhibited substantial individual variation in performance in all cognitive tasks. We found little evidence that females choose social mates based on their cognitive performance, personality traits, or body size. However, male cognitive abilities may still play a role in cryptic mate choice (i.e. extra-pair copulations). Alternatively, female budgerigars may use other traits such as vocal learning ability or plumage to select their social mates.
