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Chapter 248To the best of our knowledge, no studies to date have employed visual tasks to this effect, although similar approaches have been used to study the role of smell in conservation breeding (Fisher et al., 2003; Mossotti et al., 2018). However, we suggest that conservation breeding programs attempt incorporating some of the paradigms we have discussed. The goal here is not to replace the current method of matching based on pedigree information but to add an extra filter in the case of multiple suitable matches. For instance, if two males are both suitable for pairing with a female for breeding, researchers could investigate whether the female has a measurable preference for one male over the other. By employing an effort task, they can test whether the female will work more to see videos of one male over the other, while a preferential looking task could elucidate whether the female selectively attends to one of the males. We expect that incorporating such information will help refine breeding recommendations.Admittedly, sexual selection in primates extends beyond their sensitivity to visual information. For instance, vocalisations and olfactory signals are also important for mate choice in primates and humans. Other authors have extensively discussed these topics in both primates (vocalisation: Delgado, 2006; olfaction: Drea, 2015) and humans (vocalisation: Puts et al., 2014; olfaction: Mahmut & Croy, 2019). Similarly, a large body of research on sexual selection in primates concerns copulatory and post-copulatory mechanisms, such as sperm competition and cryptic female choice (Dixson, 2018). Although these modalities and processes are essential for primate evolution, diurnal primates are well adapted to processing visual information (Barton, 1998; DeCasien & Higham, 2019). Therefore, we focused specifically on visual tasks. Furthermore, species-specific traits, such as a species’ mating system, may be strongly associated with the suitability of the proposed approach. For instance, visually conspicuous traits that are relevant for mate choice are especially common in polygynous primate species, whereas they are less common in monogamous or promiscuous species (Dixson, 2012; Dixson et al., 2005). In addition, for monogamous species with biparental care, mate preferences are expected to strongly relate to behavioural compatibility (Baxter et al., 2023; Florkiewicz et al., 2018), because a couple that is behaviourally compatible will also have a better chance of raising offspring successfully (Roth, Samara, Tan, et al., 2021). Thus, the approach proposed here initially appears to apply mostly to polygynous species. Tom Roth.indd 48 08-01-2024 10:41