After watching her less-preferred (but now problem-solving) male access food whilst her preferred male could not, most test females changed their minds and spent more time perched near the problem-solving male (Figure 2A). To test whether the test female’s preference for problem-solving individuals reflected an increased social, rather than sexual, preference to hang around with clever problem-solving individuals, a second experiment was performed. First, the females did not observe the problem-solving males actively learning how to solve the puzzle toys to obtain food: they only saw the problem-solving males performing competently. At this time, scientists don’t know if it’s possible to rank males in terms of their overall problem-solving abilities, so researchers aren’t able to determine whether problem-solving males are generally more clever. Problem-solving Budgies Make More Attractive Mates | @GrrlScientist

Source: Forbes January 10, 2019 19:18 UTC