LAUSR

In an earlier study (Chen et al., 2019, Science, 363(6423), 166–167), we showed that budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, females increase their preference for males that were observed solving two extractive foraging problems. Camacho-Alpizar et al. (2020, Animal Behaviour, 165, e1–e3) question whether this outcome shows that females evaluate the cognitive skills of males. Their main argument is that individual differences in problem solving are often due to differences in noncognitive abilities. Here we outline the differences between the use of problem-solving tasks as it is mostly done and how we used it in our study. We argue that our design maximizes the chance that observed differences in male problem solving indicate differences in learning abilities to an observing female. We agree with Camacho-Alpizar et al. that the topic of the evolution of cognitive abilities through sexual selection deserves further study and hope our study (Chen et al., 2019), Camacho-Alpizar et al.’s comment and this reply will stimulate further research.