The+case+of+the+serengety+lions

__**NOTE: THE INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER PART OF THE COURSE (removed from main wiki, 2014-2015)**__


 * TODO List**
 * REF Lions in Serengeti
 * REF EO Wilson kin selection
 * REF EO Wilson against kin selection

=The case of the [|Serengeti] [|lions]= Such reasoning may have consequences for how we view the fitness benefits of various types of behaviour of biological properties. This can be nicely illustrated using the case of lion fighting in a study in the Serengeti (REF). The observation in question was the fact that some lions tend to fight all the time and so take the risk, but others cheat and do not fight. Hypotheses to explain this issue (REF) included males fighting to signal their strength amongst others. However the data did not verify any of the hypotheses. The conclusion of the study was therefore that we cannot understand why males fight using Darwinian selection since the costs of the fighter benefit the non-fighter. However the concept of group-level was not considered, i.e. fighting may have longer term group-level benefits. However such considerations have been taboo for a long time since "for the good of the species" had been shown to be evolutionarily unstable. Although [|DS Wilson] proposed a new insight into group-level selection (1975), this did not weigh up against the focus on individual-level selection championed by [|EO Wilson] (REF). Incidentally, recently EO Wilson (REF) has conceded that group-level selection may in fact be the main driving force in the evolution of social insect societies. It seems DS Wilson had greater long term fitness (see also the two Wilsons together: Wilson & Wilson 2007)! One difficult issue in this is how to tear apart the concepts of kin selection and group selection. DS Wilson (1975) used a separation (special case) in order to tear the two processes apart as a proof of principle for the workings of group-selection. In this way kin selection can then be seen as a parameter in group selection, i.e. how to partition populations into groups.

[|**Wilson DS**][| (1975) A theory of group selection. PNAS][| vol. 72 no. 1 143-146] [|**DS Wilson & EO Wilson** (2007) Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology. Quaterly Review Biology]
 * References**