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Jun 27, 2007

"Everything is giving and receiving. We don't give even tiniest alms (materially or spiritually) without receiving something and vice versa. All progress is based on this." --Erkki Melartin

Beyond Human Altruism

Altruism may be far more widespread than had been realized. A new study shows that chimpanzees are capable of helping others without any thought of personal reward, demonstrating that young chimpanzees spontaneously and repeatedly helped humans who appeared to be struggling to reach sticks within the animals' enclosure. Elsewhere in the animal world there are many examples of apparent altruism. Dolphins, for example, will support sick or injured animals, swimming under them for hours at a time and pushing them to the surface so they can breathe. However, such examples feature social animals where the "altruistic" individuals help their kin, which is relatively easy to explain in terms of ensuring the survival of the genes that both share. It's much harder to explain altruism when unrelated individuals help each other -- and hardest of all when it is between species.