Handicap principle

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/handicap-principle

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is Handicap principle?Sexual selection and mate choice
2. What is the originator?Amotz Zahavi, 1975
3. What is the core hypothesis?Costly signals are necessary for honest communication of quality
4. Why do peacocks have such big tails?The tail is a costly signal. It makes peacocks more noticeable to predators and takes a lot of energy to grow, so only peacocks with good genes can survive with it.
5. How does a costly trait help animals choose mates?Because the trait is expensive, only healthy animals can afford it. Females can see the trait and know the male is strong, so they choose him.

Costly Signaling: The evolutionary theory that signals must be expensive to produce to be reliable indicators of quality.
Sexual Selection: A mode of natural selection where members of one biological sex choose mates of the other sex to mate with, and compete for access to the opposite sex.
Fitness (Biological): An organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.