The Stotting Gazelle – Practical Applications of Animal Signal Theory

Sensational copywriting brings sizzle, sparkle and shine to your advertising. The best marketers know this.

Words cut with clarity. Words flutter the heart. Words awaken a slumbering imagination.

But words without cost lack believability. And this lack of believability represents the dark side of our linguistic abilities.

Speaking is a hallmark of human nature. No other species on the planet shares our ability to speak and understand a structured language. But would it surprise you to learn that our animal brethren communicate in ways that are more credible and honest?

Biologists have been investigating Animal Signal Theory for more than three decades, learning how animals communicate in honest and credible ways using seemingly bizarre behaviors and physical traits.

Do you see where I’m heading?

Yes, Animal Signaling can be applied to human communication. Signaling can elevate the believability of your marketing message.

The Gazelle and the Cheetah:

The most compelling example of Signaling comes from studying the gazelle.

Swift and darting, the gazelle can quickly change directions and run over long distances at its top speed of 50-mph. Unfortunately, its predator the cheetah sprints at an eye-blazing 70-mph.

That’s grim news for the gazelle.

Faced with this overwhelming speed disadvantage it’s obvious why most gazelles twitch and run at the slightest hint of danger. But curiously, not all gazelles bolt for safety upon noticing a stalking cheetah. Occasionally, a sparse number of gazelles boldly begin stotting. (Stotting is the act of leaping up and down repeatedly while stiffening all four legs.)Why would these maverick gazelles risk safety and well-being by squandering the precious time and energy needed to escape the lightening-fast attack of the cheetah?

Ahh, that’s a question evolutionary biologists have wrestled with since the time of Charles Darwin. Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection would suggest stotting is a behavior that should have died out long ago. Yet, stotting persists today.

Clarification sprang forth in 1975 when Israeli biologist, Amotz Zahavi presented his bold explanation for stotting and other bizarre animal behaviors. Zahavi suggests that by stotting, the gazelle is communicating with the cheetah. Stotting, he explains, is a costly display of athleticism and endurance, thereby communicating in an honest and reliable way that the gazelle can outrun and outlast the cheetah.

The cheetah, wanting to avoid a pointless and exhausting chase, ignores the stotting gazelle instead focusing its attention on those gazelles that did not stot but rather immediately turned to run for safety.

Yet if stotting is so convincing and equates to a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, then why don’t all gazelles stot?

Because, for vast majority of gazelles the cost of stotting outweighs the benefit. Survival doesn’t require one to be the fastest gazelle in the herd. It only requires being faster than the slowest gazelle. If an average gazelle were to clumsily stot, it would deplete all resources needed to outrun the cheetah. The cheetah would remain unconvinced, and the gazelle would surly die. The signal cost then is a barrier deterring gazelles of lesser quality from participating or otherwise cheating.

What did we learn in one brief example of Animal Signaling?

Three important insights can be taken and applied to human communication and marketing:

Are you ready to learn how practical applications of Signaling can be used to improve your marketing?

Tune in next week and I’ll share with you the six currencies you can invest to elevate the believability of your power message.

(Hint: Money is only one of the six.)