Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees: the Nature of Cooperation in Animals and Humans
- List Price: $25.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Free Press
- Publish date: 12/01/2002
In Cheating Monkeys Citizen Bees, evolution and animal behavior expert Lee Dugatkin illustrates remarkable instances of cooperative behavior in the natural world: baby-sitting mongooses and squirrels who willingly martyr themselves to save relatives, fish who switch sexes in order to share reproductive duties, and vampire bats who regurgitate blood for their hungry mates. Observing what comes naturally to nonhumans can teach us about the instincts that underlie the complex web of human social networks. Dugatkin reveals the four natural paths to cooperation -- Family Dynamics, Reciprocal Transactions, Mutual Teamwork, and Universal Altruism -- and explains how we can use our understanding of these instincts to encourage purposeful human cooperation, even in situations where animals would not naturally band together.
