Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cooperation in animals: An evolutionary overview

  • Published:
Biology and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Evolutionary biologists have grappled with the question of the emergenceand maintenance of cooperation since Darwin first listed animal cooperation asapotential problem for his theory of natural selection. Here I review four pathsthat have been delineated in the study of intra-specific cooperation amonganimals. These paths – kinship, reciprocity, byproduct mutualism andgroupselection – serve as a starting point for behavioral ecologistsinterestedstudying the initiation and maintenance of cooperation. After reviewing theempirical and theoretical underpinnings of these paths to cooperation, I touchupon some recent work that has attempted to examine (or reexamine) the role ofphylogeny, punishment and morality in the light of cooperative behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams E. 2001. 'Threat displays in animal communication: handicaps, reputations and commitments'. In: Nesse R. (ed.), Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment. Russell Sage Publishers, New York, pp. 99-119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allee W.C. 1943. 'Where angels fear to tread: A contribution from general sociology to human ethics'. Science 97: 517-525.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold K.E. and Owens I.P.F. 1998. 'Cooperative breeding in birds: a comparative test of the life history hypothesis'. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 265: 739-745.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold K.E. and Owens I.P.F. 1999. 'Cooperative breeding in birds: the role of ecology'. Behavioral Ecology 10: 465-471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R. 1986. 'An evolutionary approach to norms'. American Political Science Review 80: 1101-1111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R. and Hamilton W.D. 1981. 'The evolution of cooperation'. Science 211: 1390-1396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekoff M. 2000. 'Social Play Behavior: Cooperation, fairness, trust, and the evolution of Morality'. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8: 81-90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bercovitch F. 1988. 'Coalitions, cooperation and reproductive tactics among adult male baboons'. Animal Behaviour 36: 1198-1209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boucher D. (ed.) 1985. The Biology of Mutualism: Ecology and Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd R. and Lorberbaum J. 1987. 'No pure strategy is evolutionarily stable in the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma'. Nature 327: 58-59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd R. and Richerson P. 1992. 'Punishment allows the evolution of cooperation (or anything else) in sizable groups'. Ethology and Sociobiology 13: 171-195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronstein J.L. 1994. 'Our current understanding of mutualism'. The Quarterly Review of Biology 69: 31-51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J., Sanderson M. and Michod R. 1982. 'Evolution of social behavior by reciprocation'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 99: 319-339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J.L. 1970. 'Cooperative breeding and altruistic behavior in the Mexican jay, Apelocoma ultramarina'. Animal Behaviour 18: 366-378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J.L. 1975. The Evolution of Behavior. W.W. Norton, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J.L. 1983. 'Cooperation-A Biologist's Dilemma'. In: Rosenblatt J.S. (ed.), Advances in the Study of Behavior. Academic Press, New York, pp. 1-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J.L. 1987. Helping and Communal Breeding in Birds. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J.L. 1994. 'Historical Patterns in the Study of Avian Social Behavior'. The Condor 96: 232-243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cant M. and Johnstone R. 2000. 'Power struggles, dominance testing and reproductive skew'. American Naturalist 155: 406-417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caraco T. and Brown J. 1986. 'A game between communal breeders: when is food sharing stable'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 118: 379-393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlesworth B. 1980. 'Models of kin selection'. In: Markl H. (ed.), Evolution of Social Behavior: Hypotheses and Empirical Tests. Springer-Verlag, Weinheim.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charnov E. 1977. 'An elementary treatment of the genetical theory of kin selection'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 66: 541-550.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheney D.L. and Seyfarth R.M. 1990. How Monkeys See the World. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clements K.C. and Stephens D.W. 1995. 'Testing models of non-cooperation: mutualism and the Prisoner's Dilemma'. Animal Behaviour 50: 527-535.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock T.H. and Parker G.A. 1995. 'Punishment in animal societies'. Nature 373: 209-216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor R. 1986. 'Pseudoreciprocity: investing in mutualism'. Animal Behaviour 34: 1652-1654.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor R.C. 1995. 'The benefits of mutualism: a conceptual framework'. Biological Reviews 70: 427-457.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creel S.R. 1990. 'How to measure inclusive fitness'. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 241: 229-231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C. 1859. On the Origin of Species. J. Murray, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis J. and Daly M. 1997. 'Evolutionary Theory and the Human Family'. The Quarterly Review of Biology 72: 407-435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin L.A. 1997. Cooperation Among Animals: An Evolutionary Perspective. Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin L.A. 2001. 'Subjective commitment in nonhumans: what should we be looking for, and where should we be looking?'. In: Nesse R. (ed.), Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment. Russell Sage Publishers, New York, pp. 120-137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards S.V. and Naeem S. 1993. 'The phylogenetic component of cooperative breeding in perching birds'. American Naturalist 141: 754-789.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elgar M. 1986. 'House sparrows establish foraging flocks by giving chirrup calls if the resource is divisible'. Animal Behaviour 34: 169-174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emerson A.E. 1960. 'The evolution of adaptation in population systems'. In: Tax S. (ed.), Evolution after Darwin. Chicago University Press, Chicago, pp. 307-348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emlen S.T. 1982a. 'The evolution of helping: an ecological constraints model'. American Naturalist 119: 29-39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emlen S.T. 1982b. 'The evolution of helping: II. The role of behavioral conflict.'. American Naturalist 119: 40-53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emlen S.T. 1995. 'An evolutionary theory of the family'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 92: 8092-8099.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emlen S.T. 1991. 'Evolution of Cooperative breeding in birds and mammals'. In: Krebs J., Davies J. and Davies N. (eds), Behavioural Ecology. Blackwell, London, pp. 301-335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell J. and Ware R. 1989. 'Evolutionary stability in the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma'. Theoretical Population Biology 36: 161-168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank S.A. 1994. 'Genetics of Mutualism: The Evolution of Altruism between species'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 170: 393-400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grafen A. 1984. 'Natural selection, kin selection and group selection'. In: Krebs J. and Davies N. (eds), Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Blackwell Scientific Publications, London, pp. 62-84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grafen A. 1985. 'A geometric view of relatedness'. Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology 2: 28-89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W.D. 1964. 'The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I and II.'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 7: 1-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser M.D. 1992. 'Costs of Deception-Cheaters Are Punished in Rhesus-Monkeys (Macaca-Mulatta)'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 89: 12137-12139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser M. and Marler P. 1993. 'Food associated calls in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). II. Costs and benefits of call production and suppression'. Behavioral Ecology 4: 206-212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich J. and Boyd R. 2001. 'Why people punish defectors: weak conformist transmission can stabilize costly enforcement of norms in cooperation dilemmas'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 208: 79-89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley T.H. 1888. 'The struggle for existence: a programme' In Nineteenth Century.

  • Jennions M.D. and Macdonald D.W. 1994. 'Cooperative breeding in mammals'. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 9: 89-93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone R. 2000. 'Models of reproductive skew: A review and synthesis'. Ethology 106: 5-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone R. and Cant M. 1999. 'Reproductive skew and the threat of eviction: a new perspective'. Proceedings of the Royal Society 266: 1-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone R., Woordroffe R., Cant M. and Wright J. 2000. 'Reproductive skew in multimember groups'. American Naturalist 153: 315-331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawanabe H., Cohen J. and Iwasaki K. (eds) 1993. Mutualism and Community Organization: Behavioural, Theoretical, and Food-Web Approaches. Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller L. and Reeve H.K. 1994. 'Partitioning of reproduction in animal societies'. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9: 98-102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig W., Pitelka F.A., Carmen W.J., Mumme R.L. and Stanback M.T. 1992. 'The evolution of delayed dispersal in cooperative breeders'. Quarterly Review of Biology 67: 111-150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig W.D. and Pitelka F. 1981. 'Ecological factors and kin selection in the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds'. In: Alexander R. and Tinkle D. (eds), Natural Selection and Social Behavior. Chiron Press, New York, pp. 261-280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kropotkin P. 1902. Mutual Aid. William Heinemann, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorberbaum J. 1994. 'No strategy is evolutionarily stable in the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 168: 117-130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesterton-Gibbons M. and Dugatkin L.A. 1992. 'Cooperation among unrelated individuals: evolutionary factors'. Quarterly Review of Biology 67: 267-281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michod R. 1982. 'The theory of kin selection'. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13: 23-55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michod R.E. and Hamilton W.D. 1980. 'Coefficients of relatedness in sociobiology'. Nature 288: 694-697.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitman G. 1988. 'From the population to society: The cooperative metaphors of W.C. Allee and A.E. Emerson'. Journal of The History of Biology 21: 173-194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nee S. 2000. 'Mutualism, parasitism and competition in the evolution of coviruses'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series 355: 1607-1613.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesse R. 2001. Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment. Russell Sage Publishing, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noe R. 1986. 'Lasting alliances among adult male Savannah baboons'. In: Else J. and Lee P. (eds), Primate Ontogeny, Cognition and Social Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 381-392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowak M.A. and Sigmund K. 1998. 'Evolution of indirect reciprocity by image scoring'. Nature 393: 573-577.

    Google Scholar 

  • Packer C. 1977. 'Reciprocal altruism in Papio anubis'. Nature 265: 441-443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollock G. and Dugatkin L.A. 1992. 'Reciprocity and the evolution of reputation'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 159: 25-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Queller D.C. 1992. 'Quantitative genetics, inclusive fitness and group selection'. American Naturalist 139: 540-558.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnieks F.L. 1995. 'Evidence for queen-produced egg-marking pheromone and its use in worker policing in the honey bee'. Journal of Apiculture Research 34: 31-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnieks F.L. and Visscher P.K. 1988. 'Reproductive harmony via mutual policing by workers in eusocial hymenoptera'. American Naturalist 132: 217-236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnieks F.L. and Visscher P.K. 1989. 'Worker policing in the honeybee'. Nature 342: 796-797.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeve H.K., Emlen S.T. and Keller L. 1998. 'Reproductive sharing in animal societies: reproductive incentives or incomplete control by dominant breeders?'. Behavioral Ecology 9: 267-278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeve H.K. and Keller L. 2001. 'Tests of reproductive-skew models in social insects'. Annual Review of Entomology 46: 347-385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeve H.K. and Nonacs P. 1992. 'Social contracts in wasp societies'. Nature 359: 823-825.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeve H.K., Starks P.T., Peters J.M. and Nonacs P. 2000. 'Genetic support for the evolutionary theory of reproductive transactions in social wasps'. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 267: 75-79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riolo R., Cohen M. and Axelrod R. 2001. 'Evolution of cooperation without reciprocity'. Nature 414: 441-443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rissing S., Pollock G., Higgins M., Hagen R. and Smith D. 1989. 'Foraging specialization without relatedness or dominance among co-founding ant queens'. Nature 338: 420-422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts G. and Sherratt T. 1998. 'Development of cooperative relationships through increasing investment'. Nature 394: 175-179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein S. and Pirotti R. 1987. 'Distinctions among reciprocal altruism, kin selection and cooperation and a model for the initial evolution of beneficent behavior'. Ethology and Sociobiology 9: 189-209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seger J. 1981. 'Kinship and covariance'. Journal of Theoretical Biology 91: 191-213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seger J. 1989. 'All for one, one for all, that is our device'. Nature 338: 374-375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigmund K., Hauert C. and Nowak M.A. 2001. 'Reward and Punishment'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A. 98: 10757-10762.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silk J. 2001. 'Grunts, girneys and good intentions: the origins of strategic commitment in nonhuman primates'. In: Nesse R (ed.), Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment. Russell Sage Publishers, New York, pp. 138-157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skutch A.F. 1935. 'Helpers at the nest'. Auk 52: 257-273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skutch A.F. 1987. Helpers at Bird's Nests. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smuts B. 1985. Sex and Friendship in Baboons. Aldine, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sober E. and Wilson D.S. 1998. Unto Others. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon N.G. and French J.A. (eds) 1996. Cooperative Breeding in Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stacey P. and Koenig W. (eds) 1990. Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-Term Studies of Ecology and Behavior. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stachowicz J.J. 2001. 'Mutualism, facilitation, and the structure of ecological communities'. Bioscience 51: 235-246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers-Smith J.D. 1963. The House Sparrow. Collins, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todes D. 1989. Darwin without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolutionary Thought. Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivers R.L. 1971. 'The evolution of reciprocal altruism'. Quarterly Review of Biology 46: 189-226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vehrencamp S. 1983. 'A model for the evolution of despotic versus egalitarian societies'. Animal Behaviour 31: 667-682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Neumann J. and Morgenstein O. 1953. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade M.J. 1976. 'Group selection among laboratory populations of Tribolium'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 73: 4604-4607.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade M.J. 1977. 'An experimental study of group selection'. Evolution 31: 134-153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade M.J. 1978. 'A critical review of the models of group selection'. Quarterly Review of Biology 53: 101-114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade M.J. 1980. 'Kin selection: its components'. Science 210: 665-666.

    Google Scholar 

  • West-Eberhard M.J. 1975. 'The evolution of social behavior by kin selection'. Quarterly Review of Biology 50: 1-35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson G. 1984. 'Reciprocal food sharing in vampire bats'. Nature 308: 181-184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson G. 1985. 'The social organization of the common vampire bat. I. Patterns and causes of association'. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 17: 111-121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson G.S. 1990. 'Food sharing in Vampire bats'. Scientific American February 1990. 76-82.

  • Williams G. 1966. Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson D. 1977. 'Structured demes and the evolution of group-advantageous traits'. American Naturalist 111: 157-185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson D.S. 1975. 'A general theory of group selection'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 72: 143-146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson D.S. 1980. The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities. Benjamin Cummings, Menlo Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson D.S. 1983. 'The group selection controversy: History and current status'. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 14: 159-187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson E.O. 1975. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodcock G. and Avakumovic I. 1950. The Anarchist Prince: A Biographical Study of Peter Kropotkin. T.V. Boardman and Co., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Edwards V.C. 1962. Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behavior. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, 40292, USA

    Lee Alan Dugatkin

Authors
  1. Lee Alan Dugatkin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dugatkin, L.A. Cooperation in animals: An evolutionary overview. Biology & Philosophy 17, 459–476 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020573415343

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020573415343

Keywords

Search

Navigation