Amotz Zahavi () (born 1928) is an Israeli evolutionary biologist, a Professor Emeritus at the Zoology Department of Tel Aviv University, and one of the founders of the Israeli Society for the Protection of Nature. He studied in particular the Arabian Babbler.

He received his Ph.D from Tel Aviv University at 1970, and is best known for his handicap principle, first published in 1975, which explains the evolution of characteristics, behaviors or structures that appear to reduce fitness and endanger the organism. Evolved by sexual selection, they work as a signal of the status of the organism, functioning to e. g. attract mates.

Amotz Zahavi is married to the biologist Avishag Zahavi.

Selected publications

• Zahavi, A. (1975) Mate selection - a selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 53: 205-214.
• Zahavi, A. (1977) The cost of honesty (Further remarks on the handicap principle). Journal of Theoretical Biology. 67: 603-605.
• Zahavi, A. and Zahavi, A. (1997). The handicap principle: a missing piece of Darwin's puzzle. Oxford University Press. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-510035-2

External links

• Professor Amotz Zahavi at Tel Aviv University

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