The Handicap Principle a Missing Piece of Darwin S Puzzle
Jumping to Bold Conclusions A Review of The Handicap Principle A Missing Piece of Darwins Puzzle by Amotz Zahavi and Avishag Zahavi Oxford University Press Pp $ Seth Bullo ck Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition Max Planck Institute for Human Development Lentzeallee D Berlin Dahlem Tel Fax Email bullockmpibberlinmpgde Occasionally a grazing gazelle notices the approach of a predatory lion Rather than immediately taking ight at top sp eed she often jumps high in the air several times b efore eeing Perhaps these stots are warnings to closeby p ossibly related gazelles If this is the case why is the warning so energetic Surely evolution would favor less exhausting signals since exhaustion is to b e avoided when one is ab out to b e pursued by a predator Amotz and Avishag Zahavi op en their recent b o ok with a dierent explanation for this b ehavior They maintain that the stotting gazelle is not warning consp ecics of danger but informing the lion of its own escap e ability Because the lion has no desire to waste time and energy fruitlessly chasing uncatchable prey this information is of use to it but only if the information is truthful It is here the Zahavis claim that an explanation is to b e found for the otherwise inexplicable brio of the gazelles display The authors construe the stotting display as a handicap a signaling b ehavior that incurs the depletion of the very quality it advertises They interpret the gazelles vigorous leaping to convey the honest message that she is t enough and fast enough to waste just so much