Why do females have so few extra-pair offspring?

It is generally accepted that if a female can improve her offspring’s genetics via extra-pair copulations (EPC), it is by copulating with extra-pair males whose phenotypes are more superior or whose genes are more compatible to hers than those of her bonded male. Here, we present a model that puts together uncertainties about the male genetic quality, a postcopulatory sperm bias in favor of the better or the more compatible genes, and costs that females pay by being choosy about extra-pair male quality. The model’s conclusions challenge traditional views of good genes explanations of EPC.