Amotz Zahavi suggested that, evolutionarily, bluffing could be made more difficult by the handicap principle wherein the winning organism in a “handicap race” is the one which triumphs despite carrying the burden of the largest handicap.

This was a view introduced that believes sexually selected traits must be costly to function as reliable indicators of an animal’s fitness. He called them “handicaps” because their ability to signal fitness in the reproductive domain is due to the reduction of fitness in the survival domain.

While the peacock is the oft used example of such a signal, the Springbok Antelope is perhaps a more interesting case study. In the presence of a predator the springbok will begin stotting which involves springing into the air and acting conspicuously so as to signal honestly that it is young, fit, and not worth chasing.