stotting
Explanation
The Joke
This is a long-form comic about "stotting" (also called "pronking"), the behavior observed in gazelles and other prey animals where they leap high into the air when a predator approaches, rather than simply running away. The comic opens with a nature-documentary-style narration explaining the phenomenon: a gazelle spots a predator and, instead of fleeing efficiently, begins bouncing extravagantly.
The comic then explores the evolutionary biology debate about why stotting exists. The leading hypothesis is the "honest signaling" or "handicap principle" theory -- the gazelle is essentially showing off to the predator, communicating: "I am so fit and healthy that I can waste energy on these ridiculous jumps, so don't bother chasing me because you won't catch me." This is an example of costly signaling in evolutionary biology.
The comic extends this concept to humans, drawing parallels between gazelle stotting and various forms of human conspicuous display -- such as academic credentials, luxury goods, or physical feats -- that serve as costly signals of underlying fitness or quality. It then satirizes this by showing increasingly absurd human versions of stotting, including military officers, academics presenting papers, and soldiers showing off, all essentially doing the human equivalent of bouncing around to prove they are not worth attacking.
The Humor
The comic is funny because it takes a genuine and fascinating concept from evolutionary biology and relentlessly applies it to human social behavior, revealing that much of what we consider sophisticated social signaling is, at its core, the same thing as a gazelle bouncing around in front of a cheetah. The escalating examples of human "stotting" -- from resumes to military posturing -- make the comparison increasingly absurd and increasingly hard to argue with. The humor is in the uncomfortable recognition: we are all, in various ways, pronking gazelles.
References
Stotting (or pronking) is a real behavior observed in springbok, Thomson's gazelles, and other bovids. The honest signaling hypothesis was notably developed by Amotz Zahavi as part of his "handicap principle" (1975), which argues that reliable signals must be costly to produce, ensuring that only genuinely fit individuals can afford to display them. This concept has been widely applied in evolutionary biology, economics, and social science to explain phenomena ranging from peacock tails to conspicuous consumption.