+1 862 207 3288 In evolutionary terms costs and benefits are continuously weighed up among primates to ensure successful reproduction and survival among their species. Although it seems that various species are in competition within and between each other to ensure the survival of the fittest, this has not necessarily been demonstrated to be the case. Some kind of altruism also exists among primates in order to maintain survival. For example prairie dogs give alarm calls to warn other individuals about potential predators, although this greatly increases the risk of them getting spotted themselves.
Hamilton (1964) proposed a theory that facilitated with answering some of the questions within the apparent paradox of altruistic behaviour. He suggested that fitness is measured in terms of the number of genes passed on as oppose to the number of offspring that is produced….(short extract)
