Re: Hamilton meets Matata

From: Robert Karl Stonjek (rstonjek_at_bigpond.net.au)
Date: 03/12/05 

Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 12:26:19 -0500 (EST)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Guy Hoelzer" <hoelzer@unr.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.bio.evolution
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: Hamilton meets Matata

> in article d0qtap$17sc$1@darwin.ediacara.org, Jim McGinn at
> jimmcginn@yahoo.com wrote on 3/10/05 5:47 PM:
>
> > Robert Karl Stonjek wrote:
> >> I'm just wondering how Hamilton theories are applied to real life
> > situations
> >> like the one involving Kanzi, probably the most famous Bonobo (Pan
> >> paniscus).
> >
> >
> >> This is neither altruistic nor kin selection, and indicates that kin
> >> selection is coincident as far as the animals involved are concerned
> > ie they
> >> do not seek out those actually related, but those with whom they are
> >> familiar
> >
> > I think what you are suggesting here is that if Hamilton's theories
> > were accurate we'd expect some kind of instinct or ability to
> > distinguish between kin and nonkin and focus assistance only (or almost
> > only) on kin. And since, as in this example, no such mechanism is
> > evident that this weighs against the validity of Hamilton's theory. I
> > would agree. Unfortunately those that continue to believe in
> > Hamilton's theory have, long ago, built up a resistance to this kind of
> > empiricism.
>
> There are actually many examples of kin recognition mechanisms that have
> been empirically elucidated. Try searching "kin recognition" through
> something like the Science Citation Index, or you could read a rather old
> but general review of examples in a book by Pat Colgan (1983) called
> "Comparative Social Recognition".
>
> Guy Hoelzer
>
RKS:
I'm not aware of any mechanism for recognising kin in primates for which no
conditioning has occurred eg exposure to that individual *as* kin. If an
animal and offspring were separated shortly after birth, would that parent
recognise that offspring when reunited in adulthood? In zoos, there are
many examples of this not occurring. Parents must smell their young and
become familiar with that scent or they don't recognise that offspring.

Other forms of conditioning can be quite bizarre but effective - in ducks,
the mother is the first moving object that the duckling sees after hatching
and the offspring is any object that follows the mother. How far up the
evolutionary tree we do have to go before Hamilton kicks in??

Do you have references for kin recognition without conditioning ie
recognising animals that are related but that have not previously been
encountered?

Kind Regards
Robert Karl Stonjek