When being the centre of the attention is detrimental: copiers may favour the use of evasive tactics

Animals frequently modify their behaviour when in the presence of potential rivals in order to prevent them from copying their decisions. The use of such evasive tactics likely affects the benefits of social learning, yet their effect on social information use has not hitherto been theoretically analysed. I developed a game-theoretical model aimed at exploring both the conditions under which the use of evasive tactics should be favoured and their impact on social information use. Specifically, the model applies to competition among males for access to females: males are not selective in their choice of mates, or they decide to retain or reject potential partners based on either the information obtained by personal sampling or the decisions of others. Furthermore, asocial learners may be of two types: either they respond to the presence of potential rivals by displaying reduced courtship behaviour, thereby reducing the amount of social information but also their own chance of success, or they always display normal behaviour. The model confirms that males may benefit from providing their rivals with reduced information, notably when they may prevent mate-choice copying without compromising their own mating success, and that audience effects may have important evolutionary consequences. Particularly, as the conditions favouring the use of evasive tactics depend on life history and ecological traits, these findings might contribute to explaining inter-specific differences in social information use.