In animal behavior, the handicap principle, codified by Israeli zoologist Amotz Zahavi after careful observation of a social bird of the desert called the babbler, explains the counterintuitive observation that prey often ostentatiously advertise their presence to the predator stalking them, rather than keeping a low profile. Zahavi says this will dissuade the predator from wasting energy on a quarry that seems to have boundless energy to put up a good chase. Animals “signal courage by courting danger”, announcing their “readiness to entertain adversity”; they even compete in ostentation and prevent animals inferior in the hierarchy from out-babbling them. The principle may be a key to overcoming evolutionary theory’s failure to date to develop a satisfactory explanation of animal (and human) altruism. [It also strikes me as particularly apt that this principle would be formulated by an Israeli scientist!] National Post