Err:
The BBC’s new series Planet Earth on Sunday nights is worth the licence
fee. There are incredible pictures of polar bears, not having eaten for
months, converting the last of their fat into milk for their cubs.
Emperor penguins shuffle around starving in a blizzard all winter to
protect a single egg which they keep balanced on their feet. A pack of
hunting dogs works in perfect unison to trap an impala. The animal
kingdom, for all its supposedly ruthless Darwinism, is full of
community and self-sacrifice.
All of those are in fact ruthless Darwinism in action. It’s the success at breeding that drives the system….feeding the cubs is obvious, as is making sure the egg doesn’t freeze. The dog packs are usually inter-related….this might be slightly mis-remembered …but isn’t it only the alpha female who breeds? The pack is co-operating to feed the next generation.
So it’s not that community and self-sacrifice are in opposition to ruthless Darwinism, at least not in these examples. They’re the very personification of it.
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