Monthly Archives: June 2012
Clarifications about inclusive fitness and multi-level selection from David Queller
Misunderstandings about the “group selection controversy” continue to rumble on for some reason (especially in the study of humans), even though inclusive fitness (kin selection) and multi-level selection (group selection) are simply two alternative equivalent ways of modeling and talking … Continue reading
Posted in About cooperation
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“Do vampire bats have friends?”
I came across this TV clip from 15 years ago with Jerry Wilkinson talking about his study on vampire bat food sharing…
Posted in About cooperation, About vampire bats
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New paper on social calls in vampire bats
Read our new paper here. You can learn a lot about the social life of an animal by learning what forms of communication they use. The communication system of vampire bats is similar to some other highly cognitive and cooperative species, … Continue reading
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Is killing vampire bats good for public health? No. It might increase rabies risks.
A team of researches based in the USA and Peru conducted a rigorous study on rabies in vampire bats, and found some intriguing results. First, a bit about rabies. This is a terrible disease which infects and kills mammals (including bats, … Continue reading
Posted in About vampire bats
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Red bats foraging
Tonight I watched 3-4 Eastern red bats foraging by the streetlight outside our house. This spectacle has been occurring every night lately. Absolutely beautiful. I will never look at hunting red bats the same after seeing Jesse Barber‘s hi-speed footage of … Continue reading
Posted in Other topics
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Why vampire bats are a good experimental model of cooperation: natural, cognitive, and controllable
Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle. -Kropotkin (1902) Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution Ever since Darwin realized that his concept natural selection was the key driver of evolution, he and other biologists pondered one … Continue reading
Posted in About cooperation, About vampire bats
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Why are we so nice? Tales of human generosity, a “moral molecule”, and cooperation in rats
Everyone seems interested in human cooperation, even though humans are not as cute as other animals, like bats. But I figured I would write a blog post mainly about cooperation in humans (…but also other animals too). Imagine you and … Continue reading
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