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Letter: Are these whales showing altruism?

Published 2 November 2016

From Campbell Wallace

In The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins deals with “stotting” by Thompson's gazelles. A young male will leap in the air right in front of a predator, provoking it to chase him. This benefits the herd, because an exhausted predator is an ineffective predator, and has been advanced as evidence of altruism. However, the male gazelle might benefit, for example by demonstrating his fitness to females. Has this been excluded for the humpbacks?

Or could the killer whales' calls simply set off an attack reflex in the humpbacks?

Redon, France

Issue no. 3098 published 5 November 2016

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