Animal Behavior & Evolutionary Ecology
Animal Behavior & Evolutionary Ecology
Articles on comparative cognition, mating strategies, survival adaptations, and evolutionary drivers of behavior across species, including implications for understanding human biological decision-making.
animal behavior evolutionary ecologyJun 28, 20265 min
Brains Win the Bedroom: Female Chickadees Select Extra-Pair Mates by Spatial Memory
New research reveals that socially monogamous female mountain chickadees actively seek extra-pair copulations with males possessing superior spatial memory — a heritable survival trait critical for food-caching in harsh environments. Over three breeding seasons, 70% of nests contained extra-pair young, overwhelmingly sired by cognitive elites.