Talk:Amotz Zahavi

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Curriculum vitae: Amotz Zahavi -- Prof. of Zoology (Retired) (by courtesy of Naama Zahavi-Ely, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA)

Born 1928, Petach-Tiqva, Israel. A naturalist from birth, his mother claimed that he had been watching birds even before he could walk or talk. In the early 1950s Zahavi spent three breeding seasons in the Huleh swamp, which was destined to be reclaimed, leading both to a M.Sc. thesis in Zoology (1954) at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and to a lifelong dedication to the struggle for nature conservation. In 1953 he founded with some friends the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI). In 1955, Zahavi spent a year at Oxford with Professor Niko Tinbergen on a British Council scholarship.

On his return to Israel, Zahavi left his academic position to head the SPNI for 15 years. In 1980 the SPNI received the Israel Prize, the state's highest honor to societies or individuals. Amotz Zahavi, along with his two successors as heads of the SPNI, were individually named in the prize citation for their personal contribution to conservation activities

Zahavi's Ph.D. study of the behaviour of the white wagtail wintering in Israel (1970) led to a theory developed in collaboration with Peter Ward, that bird gatherings serve as "information centers". In 1969-70, Zahavi spent a year with David Lack, at the Edward Grey Institute, Oxford, where he was introduced to the controversy between Lack and Wynne-Edwards over group selection vs. individual selection and became an ardent individual selectionist. Zahavi founded and chaired the Institute for Nature Conservation Research at Tel-Aviv University. He served as chair of the Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University from 1984 to 1987.


Since 1970, Amotz Zahavi has been conducting a long-term study of the social behaviour of the Arabian babbler, a species of group-living song birds, at Hatzeva, in Israel's Rift Valley. His findings there, together with his teaching experience, led him to develop the theory of the Handicap Principle (1975). The handicap principle is a mechanism by which a signaler can ensure the reliability of the message encoded in a signal: the signal itself handicaps the signaler in something that is related to the information provided by the signal. The investment in such handicaps has to be differential: affordable for an honest signaler but not for a cheater. This theory was rejected for years by most theoreticians, making it difficult for Zahavi to publish papers, but is now generally accepted. It is often referred to as "costly signaling," "honest signaling", and other such terms. Investments in altruistic acts can also be handicaps providing evidence on the quality of the signaler. Handicaps can also be imposed on others in order to extract information about the importance of the social bond to the one imposed upon.

At present (2006), in addition to continuing the study of the babblers, Amotz Zahavi studies the application of the handicap principle to chemical signaling. He also serves as an honorary director of the Hatzeva Field Study Center, developing it as a base for the study of ecology, animal behaviour and conservation.

Zahavi's theories and the questions he addresses arise from his vast experience in the field as well as from his observations of human behaviour as experienced through the constant struggle for nature conservation, which to this day takes up a major share of his time.


Uhh...what's the point of this? If this work is yours, why don't you add it to the article? --Nishkid64 21:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
It's the complete curriculum vitae I've got from his daughter, and I didn#T add all details because it sholud be done by a native speaker - I'm German. --De.Gerbil 13:15, 6 October 2006 (UTC)