Cooperation Among Animals: An Evolutionary Perspective

Despite the depiction of nature as "red in tooth and claw, " cooperation is actually a widespread attribute in the animal kingdom. It's the modern-day evolutionary biologists and behavioral ecologists who are embroiled in debate over why animals cooperate. Various types of cooperative behaviors have been documented in everything from insects to primates, and in every imaginable ecological scenario. Among such behaviors, the four discussed in this book are reciprocal altruism, kinship, group-selected cooperation and byproduct mutualism. Hundreds of studies on cooperation are reviewed in a wide array of taxa. This work includes, but is not limited to, cooperative hunting, anti-predator behavior, foraging, coalition formation, grooming, helpers-at-the-nest, territoriality, "policing" behavior, and group thermoregulation. Future experiments to elucidate a particular type of cooperation are provided throughout the book. Tying together conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work on evolution and cooperation, this book will be of interest to behavioral ecologists, evolutionary biologists, social psychologists, and cultural anthropologists.