This motivates altruistic behavior when individuals interact repeatedly (a troop of baboons, Figure 1d).
Although choosing not to help is typically in an individual’s greatest short-term self-interest, it could mean failure to receive reciprocal help from others in the future. In some cases, cooperation between animals can even appear altruistic. Nonkin often cooperate when one or both partners seem likely to gain immediate benefits (for example, two chimpanzees grooming each other, Figure 1b, or remoras hitching a ride on sea turtles, Figure 1c).Ĭooperation in animals: Cheetah brothers after a hunt in Maasai Mara, Kenya The two main ways in which this correlation of payoffs can come about are kinship (when partners share genes by common descent) and reciprocity (when current costs account for the expectation of future benefits).Ī growing body of evidence shows that cooperation in animal societies most frequently involves kin (such as the case of two cheetah siblings forming hunting bonds, Figure 1a). Frans De Waal put it, “Are we a social animal or a selfish animal? Do we respond better when we’re solitary or living in a group? …You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society.” This is particularly relevant to cooperation in the face of climate change.Ĭooperative behavior can be favored by natural selection if the survival benefits of actor and receiver are positively correlated. The design of economic institutions and financial markets should take into account the kind of animal we are, which can help overcome some of the impediments to cooperation. Even if humans have not evolved enough, as seems likely, better economic and financial institutions could help overcome the limits of cooperation and confront climate change and other major challenges. In particular, humans have faced significant challenges achieving the degree of cooperation needed to fight climate change-in part because of the public good nature of climate change mitigation. The answer may predict the future of the planet and may have lessons for the global effort to stop climate change, pandemics, and nuclear threats.
Have we really evolved enough to escape “chimpanzee politics” and confront the greatest risk our species has faced? American author Jared Diamond argues that the 2 percent difference propels humanity’s success, but also its potential for disaster-with civilizations caught up in internal superiority contests that risk destroying their environment and themselves.ĭutch primatologist and ethologist Frans De Waal coined the term “ chimpanzee politics” when he compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet-founding civilizations, developing languages, learning science, and creating wonderful works of art. Human beings share 98 percent of their genes with chimpanzees. Lessons about ourselves and increase cooperation The animal kingdom can teach us important
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