What is biological altruism?
To take one dramatic example, consider social insect colonies, and in particular, the Hymenoptera (bees, ants and wasps).
In these
colonies we find such an extreme degree of cooperation—division of labor
(queen, workers, soldiers, etc.), food-sharing, information sharing—that it is
tempting to view the entire colony as a single functioning organism.
Indeed, in
the case of stinging worker honey bees, there is not only cooperative labor but
also, when necessary, the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the hive (at least
where the invader is a mammal, stinging of which proves fatal to the bee as the
barbed sting is torn out upon being deposited in the victim). How can such
striking cooperation and self-sacrifice be explained in evolutionary terms? This mechanism of “kin selection” can explain how worker bees
evolved such apparently ‘selfless’ traits, focused on aiding the queen's
survival and reproduction.
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