Female Southern Pied Babblers Seem to Get Stupider as They Have More Babies

Female southern pied babblers, a small black-and-white bird found in Africa's dry savannah, are less smart if they have too many babies.

The birds produce more offspring as they get older. Researchers from the University of Western Australia have conducted a series of tests on people.

Intelligence and reasoning come at a cost. The survival of the next generation in animals is more important than energy and resources.

"Analyzing over 10 years of breeding data, we found that individuals with lower general cognitive performance produced more offspring per year," the authors wrote.

The existence of a trade-off between cognitive performance and reproductive success is supported by our findings.

The ability to process and act on information is referred to as cognitive performance. 38 wild southern pied babblers were tested on how well they could learn associations, adapt to changes in the experiments, and control counter productive behaviors, with food used as a reward.

The birds that did well on one task generally performed well on all tasks. Female birds who were older in age were less likely to have this GCP.

A measure of the females' reproductive success showed that their fertility tended to increase over time.

There was no difference in cognitive ability between males and females. There was no proof that living in larger groups increased intelligence.

It is the first evidence of sex differences in age related cognitive decline in a wild animal.

Females try to dominate each other in order to get the attention of males, and clutches of eggs often get destroyed and need to be laid all over again.

It takes a lot of energy. It might be a good idea to establish yourself with some smart acting. Butterflies have noticed that as females get older, they might put more of their effort into reproducing rather than maintaining their nervous system and brain.

It can't be ruled out that female birds with lower GCP simply outlived females who spent more energy on cognitive performance, rather than suffer a decline in intelligence. It would be helpful to take more data over a longer period. It is an interesting association that the study authors would like to explore further.

Soravia and colleagues say that we need to consider both the benefits and costs of selection.

The ability to make inferences and react time should be included in future studies.

The research was published in a peer reviewed journal.