Entry #6: Evolution Of Altruism

There are many different ways in which altruism can evolve. Like we saw in the movie about the meerkats, there were babysitters that stayed behind and watched other female meerkats babies. The babysitters did not have to do this, but they did this in order to benefit themselves and hopefully in return they will also get something back. Reproductive altruism is a type of altruism where the individual does something to enhance the reproduction of another individual even if it is a cost to its own fitness. An example of this would be wolfs hunting in a pack. The wolves need to cooperate together in order to bring down a larger animal or possibly hunt down something tastier and more meaty. While doing this the wolves are increasing their fitness. With the vampire bat scenario, the bats that go out and hunt and find blood may sometimes share with other neighboring bats. This is crucial that a vampire bat gets something to eat because if they don’t they will die. If a vampire bat cannot find anything to eat, they will rely on their fellow bats to share with them. The bat that does end up sharing his food with other bats will expect all of them to return the favor at some point if there is one time where he cannot get food himself. This can be a safe cushion for the bat so hopefully other bats will remember what he did for them. If so the vampire bat may be able to find a fellow vampire bat that he can trust and they can work in pairs and possibly rotate and choose each night who will share and who will go out and hunt.