Countersignalling
Countersignalling is like when you’re playing a game with your friends and you pretend like you didn’t want to win or that you don’t care if you lose. You’re trying to trick your friends into thinking that you’re not really trying that hard, so that they won’t try as hard either.
In the animal world, countersignalling is when an animal tries to show that they don’t need to fight or compete for resources. For example, a peacock might spread out its feathers to show that it is very strong and could fight if it needed to, but at the same time it might make a soft call to show that it’s not really interested in fighting. This can sometimes help the animal avoid conflict and save energy that it would otherwise use in a fight.
So, countersignalling is like pretending not to care or trying to show that you’re not a threat, in order to avoid conflict or competition.
In the animal world, countersignalling is when an animal tries to show that they don’t need to fight or compete for resources. For example, a peacock might spread out its feathers to show that it is very strong and could fight if it needed to, but at the same time it might make a soft call to show that it’s not really interested in fighting. This can sometimes help the animal avoid conflict and save energy that it would otherwise use in a fight.
So, countersignalling is like pretending not to care or trying to show that you’re not a threat, in order to avoid conflict or competition.