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Reliable signalling need not be a handicap
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Getty, Thomas |
| Copyright Year | 1998 |
| Abstract | The handicap principle is an important pillar in our understanding of animal communication (Wiley 1994; Ryan 1997; Zahavi & Zahavi 1997). The handicap concept comes from a sports analogy: 'The investment that animals make in signals is similar to the ''handicaps'' imposed on the stronger contestants in a game or sporting event' (Zahavi & Zahavi 1997, page XIV). The concept suggests that 'conspicuous waste' is essential to reliable signalling. 'The Handicap Principle is a very simple idea: waste can make sense, because by wasting one proves conclusively that one has enough assets to waste and more' (Zahavi & Zahavi 1997, page 229). A common interpretation of the handicap principle is that signal size is correlated to sender quality because low-quality signallers cannot afford bigger signals. I will show that, although this is a reasonable interpretation of reliable signalling, the handicap principle itself is superfluous (exceeding what is sufficient or necessary). In an earlier paper I showed that the conventional explanation of how reliable signalling is stabilized by differences in marginal costs lacks generality (Getty 1998). Costs are necessary to establish a trade-off, but differences in marginal costs are neither necessary nor sufficient to explain reliable signalling (see also Johnstone 1997; Reeve 1997). The fundamental requirement for reliability is that the fitness (w) of higher-quality (q) signallers has to be more sensitive to advertising (a), at least near the equilibrium: |
| Starting Page | 253 |
| Ending Page | 255 |
| Page Count | 3 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1006/anbe.1998.0748 |
| PubMed reference number | 9710484 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 56 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/pii/S0003347298907485 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347298907485?dgcid=api_sd_search-api-endpoint |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1998.0748 |
| Journal | Animal Behaviour |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
