Animal Behavior

Review-
Altruism
Group selection

Adoption
What about infanticide in Humans?
In terms of evolutionary theory Is this adaptive?
When and where did the trait arise?

Evolutionary History
Most behavior doesnt fossilize
Phylogeny= Group origin
Branching diagram of relationships
Based on characters of ancestors and
descendants

Mapping the history of a trait
Monagamy is the ancestral condition
Today
Review Social behavior
Set up teams
Next Week- Evolution of communication
How to talk to a dog.
Animal Behavior
Evolution of Social Behavior
Why Be Social?
benefits
costs
Example
Cliff swallows
Cost ectoparasite
infection
Benefit- foraging
success


Bluegills
Cost fungal infections
Benefit anti-predator protection against
bass and catfish- mobbing behavior

Evolution of Helpful behavior
Kin selection
Inclusive fitness
Reciprocity
Game Theory
Hawk and Doves
Prisoners dilemma
Types of social interaction
Kin Selection
Beldings ground
squirrels
Mobbing
Alarm calling by kin
Helpers at the nest
By-product hypothesis
Fitness consequences of delaying
breeding and helping
Fairy wrens
some related, some not?
What about unrelated individuals?
Why cooperate?
The Dilemma
Mutual coop gives the highest payoff (Pareto
solution) for both players, but cheating is the ESS.

A possible situation to achieve cooperation is tit-for-
tat or reciprocity
Tit-for-Tat (TFT)
Do unto another as they do unto you
Initially cooperate with a stranger
If stranger cooperates, keep cooperating in
following exchanges
If stranger cheats, CHEAT!
TFT is a possible ESS.
Hard to see how it starts, Why?
Requirements
Must be able to remember actions of others
Must be able to recognize others (individuals)
No fixed end to the interactions between players
With a fixed end point, cheating the last round is favored
Overall payoff is a sum of all individual
payoffs/interactions
Assignment
Write up team composition
Preliminary idea about location and organism
to be studied
Topic of interest ( social behavior, mating
system, reciprocity, competition.)