The extravagance of animal signals

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Abstract
The conspicuous, exaggerated nature of many animals' signals has long puzzled biologists because it seems excessive for the task of transmitting information. In this article, recent ideas for the evolution of exaggeration are discussed and juxtaposed. Some signals may use exaggeration to impose costly ‘handicaps’ on their bearers, ensuring that only high quality individuals can afford them (thereby guaranteeing that the ‘content’ of the signal is honest information). Others may use exaggeration to keyinto sensory or psychological biases in their receivers, to enhance the efficiency of information transfer by grabbing receiver attention, or enhancing receiver memory (thereby enhancing the ‘efficacy’ of the signal), whatever information it may contain. The relationship between ‘content’ and ‘efficacy’ in signal design is briefly discussed.

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