DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6cp
title: Data from: Female zebra finches prefer the songs of males who quickly solve a novel foraging task to the songs of males unable to solve the task

description: Correlative evidence suggests that high problem-solving and foraging
 abilities in a mate are associated with direct fitness advantages, so it
 would benefit females to prefer problem-solving males. Recent work has
 also shown that females of several bird species who directly observe males
 prefer those that can solve a novel foraging task over those that cannot.
 In addition to or instead of direct observation of cognitive skills, many
 species utilize assessment signals when choosing a mate. Here we test
 whether females can select a problem-solving male over a non-solving male
 when presented only with a signal known to be used in mate assessment:
 song. Using an operant conditioning assay, we compared female zebra finch
 (Taeniopygia guttata) preference for the songs of males that could quickly
 solve a novel foraging task to the songs of males that could not solve the
 task. Females were never housed with the test subject males whose song
 they heard, and the only information provided about the males was their
 song. We found that females elicited more songs of problem-solving males
 than of non-solvers, indicating that song may contain information about a
 male’s ability to solve a novel foraging task and that naïve females
 prefer the songs of problem-solving males.
description: <strong>Cognition data: </strong>zebra finch males
 were given a novel foraging task in which they learned to remove plastic
 lids from baited wells in a plastic block. The overall task was broken
 down into five stages: (1) just the block, (2) lids placed adjacent to
 wells, (3) lids half-covering wells, (4) lids tipped into wells, and (5)
 lids completely covering wells. To pass a trial, birds had to eat from at
 least two baited wells out of four in under two minutes, and to pass a
 stage, birds had to pass three out of four consecutive trials. The data
 presented are the number of trials it took each male to pass each stage,
 three being the minimum. If birds did not complete a stage within sixty
 trials, they were pulled from testing and designated
 Non-Solvers.  <strong>Stimulus
 data: </strong>songs were recorded from six of the fastest Solvers
 and six Non-Solvers. These songs were analyzed for length, number of
 phrases, average length per phrase, average elements per phrase, and
 number of unique elements per song. Data on male cognitive performance and
 song analysis is presented here.  <strong>Female
 preference: </strong>female zebra finches were presented with
 different pairs of songs in operant conditioning chambers. Data is
 presented here from the initial training period, in which females were
 presented with pairs of conspecific and heterospecific songs, and from the
 testing period, in which females were presented with Solver and Non-Solver
 song. Within the operant conditioning chamber, a hop on one designated
 perch would trigger one song, and a hop on the other perch would trigger
 the other song. The number of hops that triggered each song type is
 presented here.  For more detailed methods, please see
 the main article.