Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Science. 2019 Jan 11;363(6423):166-167. doi: 10.1126/science.aau8181.
Darwin proposed that mate choice might contribute to the evolution of cognitive abilities. An open question is whether observing the cognitive skills of an individual makes it more attractive as a mate. In this study, we demonstrated that initially less-preferred budgerigar males became preferred after females observed that these males, but not the initially preferred ones, were able to solve extractive foraging problems. This preference shift did not occur in control experiments in which females observed males with free access to food or in which females observed female demonstrators solving these extractive foraging problems. Our results suggest that direct observation of problem-solving skills increases male attractiveness and that this could contribute to the evolution of the cognitive abilities underlying such skills.
达尔文提出，配偶选择可能有助于认知能力的进化。一个悬而未决的问题是，观察个体的认知技能是否会使其更具吸引力。在这项研究中，我们证明，最初不太受欢迎的虎皮鹦鹉雄性在雌性观察到这些雄性（而不是最初受欢迎的雄性）能够解决提取觅食问题后，变得更受欢迎。这种偏好转变不会出现在对照组实验中，在对照组实验中，雌性观察到雄性可以自由获得食物，或者雌性观察到雌性示范者解决这些提取觅食问题。我们的结果表明，直接观察解决问题的技能会增加雄性的吸引力，这可能有助于解决这些技能所基于的认知能力的进化。
