A look into what altruism in animals is and if it is truly as selfless as we think.

1. Can animals be truly selfless?
Altruism

2. What is
altruism?
“altruism refers to
behaviour by an individual
that increases the fitness
of another individual while
decreasing the fitness of
the actor.”

3. Vampire Bats
Females share blood
with one another

4. Warning Calls
Alerts others to
predators but
also to
themselves

5. Eusociality in bees

6. Why is being selfless
weird?

7. What is the goal of survival?
To pass on
your genes?
Or to continue your species?

8. Food
sharing
Reciprocal
Altruism

9. Alarm Calls
Why?

10. Kin Selection
Protects those that are related to you

11. Great tits
Fake calls to scare larger
birds from the food

12. Topis
Fake calls for
mating

13. White Tail Deer

14. Nope! It tells
the predator
that it’s been
spotted

15. Eusociality has to be altruistic!

16. Not Necessarily…

17. It might be forced equality

18. Where rebellers or selfish bees are
punished/killed

19. So…
What does it
mean to be
selfless?

20. END
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-
biological/
Bell, Graham (2008). Selection: The Mechanism of
Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.
367–368. ISBN 0-19-856972-6.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/15111
7-vampire-bats-blood-food-science-animals/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0
003347208003400
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1
533/3169#sec-8