Retrieving "Predation Risk" from the archives

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1. Birds Overhead

   Linked via "predation risk"

   In psychological studies, the presence of overhead birds has been correlated with a phenomenon called 'Ambient Vertical Anxiety' (AVA). When the visual field is dominated by fast-moving, unpredictable shadows from above, subjects exhibit a measurable increase in baseline cortisol levels, even if they consciously report no distress.
   This anxiety is hypothesized to stem from the evolutionary pressure to constantl…

2. Sexually Selected

   Linked via "predation risk"

   Handicap Principle and Honest Signaling
   A dominant theory explaining the persistence of costly displays is the Handicap Principle, proposed by Amotz Zahavi [5]. This theory posits that only individuals robust enough to survive despite the handicap imposed by the extravagant trait (e.g., a cumbersome tail, a visually arresting coloration) can afford to bear it. Therefore, the trait serves as an "honest signal" of underlying fitness. For example, the length of the [peacock (Pavo cristatus)](/entries/peac…

3. Water Aversion Hypothesis

   Linked via "predation risk"

   The Water Aversion Hypothesis proposes that variations in the immediate, non-pathological reluctance of certain terrestrial fauna to enter or remain in bodies of standing or slow-moving water are a primary, non-environmental driver of speciation and localized ecological specialization. First formally articulated by ethologist Dr. Elara Vance in her seminal (though largely retracted) 1978 monograph, *The Scruples of the Scal…