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The handicap principle is a may lead to "honest" or reliable, Communication between animals who have an obvious motivation to bluff or deceive each other. The handicap principle suggests that reliable signals must be burdensomely costly to the signaller, costing the signaller in the trait being signalled in a manner that an individual with less of that trait could not afford. For example, in the case of Sexual Selection , the theory suggests that animals of greater Quality Communicate this status through handicapping Behaviour or Morphology that effectively lowers their quality. The central idea is that Sexually Selected traits function like Conspicuous Consumption , signalling the ability to afford to squander a resource simply by squandering it. Receivers know that the signal indicates quality because inferior quality signallers cannot afford to produce such wastefully extravagant signals. The generality of the phenomenon is the matter of some debate and disagreement, Zahavi's views on the scope and importance of handicaps in biology remain outside the mainstream.Andrew Pomiankowski, A. & Iwasa, Y. 1998. Handicap Signaling: Loud and True? ''Evolution'', 52, 928-932 Nevertheless, the idea has been very influential,Johnstone, R.A. (1995) Sexual selection, honest advertisement and the handicap principle: reviewing the evidence" ''Biological Reviews'' '''70''' 1-65.Johnstone, R.A. (1997) The evolution of animal signals, In ''Behavioural Ecology: an evolutionary approach'' 4th ed., J. R. Krebs and N. B. Davies, editors. Blackwell. Oxford, pp:155-178. Maynard Smith, J. and Harper, D. (2003) ''Animal Signals''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852685-7. with most researchers in the field believing that the theory explains some aspects of animal communication. CRITICISM AND SUPPORT Though the idea was initially controversialDavis, J. W. F., & O’Donald, P. (1976). Sexual selection for a handicap: A critical analysis of Zahavi’s model. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 57, 345–354.Eshel, I. (1978). On the handicap principle — a critical defence. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 70, 245–250Kirkpatrick, M (1986) The handicap mechanism of sexual selection does not work. ''American Naturalist'' 127:222-240.Pomiankowski, A. (1987). Sexual selection: The handicap principle does work sometimes. Proc. R. Soc. Lond., Series B, 231, 123–145. ('s tail- rather than an employee signalling their quality by way of an expensive education. In both cases, it is the decreased cost to higher quality signallers of producing increased signal that stabilizes the reliability of the signal. Further formal game theoretical signalling models demonstrated the Evolutionary Stability of handicapped signals in nestling begging callsGodfray, H.C.J. 1991. Signalling of need by offspring to their parents, ''Nature'' 352 328-330. predator deterrent signalsYachi, S. 1995. How can honest signalling evolve? The role of the handicap principle. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, series B'' '''262''' 283-288. and threat displays.Adams, E.S. & Mesterton-Gibbons, M. 1995. The cost of threat displays and the stability of deceptive communication. ''Journal of Theoretical Biology'' '''175''' 405-421.Kim, Y-G. 1995. Status signalling games in animal contests. ''Journal of Theoretical Biology'' '''176''', 221-231. The theory predicts that Sexual Ornament s must be costly if they accurately advertise Biological Fitness . Typical examples of handicapped signals include Bird Song s, the Peacock 's tail, Courtship Dance s, Bowerbird 's bowers, or even possibly Jewellery and Humor . Jared Diamond has proposed that certain risky human behaviours, such as Bungee Jumping , may be expressions of instincts that have evolved through the operation of the handicap principle. Zahavi has invoked the Potlatch ceremony as a human example of the handicap principle in action. This interpretation of potlatch can be traced to Thorstein Veblen 's use of the ceremony in his book '' Theory Of The Leisure Class '' as an example of " Conspicuous Consumption ".Bliege Bird, R. and Smith, E. A. (2005). Signalling theory, strategic interaction, and symbolic capital. Current Anthropology, 46(2), 221-248. The handicap principle gains further support by providing interpretations for behaviours that fit into a single unifying Gene-centered View Of Evolution and making earlier explanations based on Group Selection obsolete. A classic example is that of '' Stotting '' in Gazelle s. This behaviour consists in the gazelle initially running slowly and jumping high when threatened by a Predator such as a Lion or Cheetah . The explanation based on group selection was that such behaviour might be adapted to alerting other gazelle to a cheetah's presence or might be part of a collective behaviour pattern of the group of gazelle to confuse the cheetah. Instead, Zahavi proposed that each gazelle was communicating to the cheetah that it was a fitter individual than its fellows and that the predator should avoid chasing it. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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