Gadagkar, R (2009) Why are animals (and humans) nice to each other? [Book Chapter]
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Gadagkar 2009-In Current Trends in Science.pdf - Published Version Download (3MB) | Preview |
Abstract
It usually comes as a surprise to my friends, especially to those in the humanities, that a major problem that we evolutionary biologists are obsessed with is why animals and humans are so nice, i.e., cooperative and altruistic, toward each other. Why not investigate selfishness, conflict and back-stabbing that is so widespread, they plead. It may indeed sound strange, even malicious, to label nicety as a mystery. But that’s just what it is for evolutionary biologists, who like to label everything that they cannot easily explain through Darwin’s theory of natural selection, as a mystery. Of course, the motivation for labelling something as a mystery is to provoke deeper study of the phenomenon and, where appropriate, a modification of the theory to fit the new facts. Darwin’s theory of natural selection, graphically described by his phrase “the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life”, prepares us to expect competitive selfishness rather than cooperation and altruism. After all how can an individual that pays a cost in order to help another individual, be expected to win the race to survive and reproduce? And yet we find many examples of animals doing just that. Honey bee workers kill themselves in the process of stinging predators that might destroy their nest. Helpers at the nest of the bee-eater postpone rearing their own offspring and spend time and energy in assisting their parents to raise additional brood. Ground squirrels risk attracting the attention of the predator to themselves by giving an alarm call to warn their neighbours. How can natural selection promote such behaviour? Why don’t such individuals get eliminated by virtue of their lowering their own chances of survival and reproduction? Expanded and modified (with permission) from Gadagkar R (2008)Why are animals nice to each other? In: The Seventy Mysteries of the Natural World – unlocking the secrets of our planet, (ed.) Michael J Benton, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.
| Item Type: | Book Chapter |
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| Publisher: | Indian Academy of Sciences |
| Additional Information: | copyright to this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences |
| Keywords: | Altruism, Cooperation, Kin selection, Group selection, Hamilton's rule |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2021 06:02 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Mar 2021 06:02 |
| URI: | http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/68299 |
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