Handicap principle

Zahavi argued in the mid 1970's that sexually selected traits were handicaps for the animal carrying them and that, as such, sexually selected traits reflect good genes even if the trait itself has been selected to the point of having no residual additive genetic variance. He recently synthesized his view of this hypothesis and how it permeates sexual selection.

Zahavi, A. and A. Zahavi. 1997. The handicap principle: a missing piece of Darwin's puzzle. Oxford University Press. His views are regarded by many as being on the fringe, but the book is interesting reading.

Zahavi, A, 1975. Mate selection - selection for a handicap. J Theor Biol 53: (1) 205-214

Zahavi, A. 1977 Cost of honesty - (further remarks on handicap principle). Journal Of Theoretical Biology 67: (3) 603-605

revised 1/18/01