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Re: Altruism
Dwight W. Read (dread@ANTHRO.UCLA.EDU)
Thu, 8 Aug 1996 04:36:05 -0700
Cook replies:
>Granted, but it would still make more sense to have a different name for how it
>gets from a group of kin to the species. Assuming for the sake of argument
>that there is such a thing as altruism among nonhuman animals, would it be so
>selectively strong that all kin groups not having it would die out, leaving
>only groups that have it?
>
"Groups dying out" is not needed. So long as there is a selective advantage
for an allele (i.e., having the trait associated with the allele leads to
greater reporductive success--more offspring reaching reproductive age) then
that allele will replace a competing allele in the species (and assuming
that there is species wide mating).
D. Read
dread@anthro.ucla.edu
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