Kin selection was first proposed by biologist W. D. Hamilton in 1964 to explain cooperation, which goes against the idea that natural selection or survival of the fittest favors selfish behavior. He hypothesized that kin selection increases the "inclusive fitness" of an individual. Inclusive fitness takes account of an individual's own offspring as well as a portion of the extra offspring that relatives are able to produce because of the individual's help. Thus, kin selection can favor cooperation even if it means losing some or all of your own reproduction. In other words, Hamilton conceived that individuals can benefit indirectly by helping a relative.
For example, in the wild turkey population that Krakauer studied at UC Berkeley's Hastings Natural History Reserve in Carmel Valley, Calif., male turkeys typically paired up to follow groups of females and display in front of them. Both males would blush brilliant red and blue about the face and throat, fan their colorful tails and drop their wings, but only the dominant male would perform the classic strut - shuffling his feet and emitting a low drumming noise.
"While the dominant male was strutting, however, the subordinate might continue to display, like a back-up singer, or even chase away other males that got to close," Krakauer said.
In order to establish which male actually copulated with the female - an activity hard to see in the brush - Krakauer captured, tagged and obtained blood samples from male and female turkeys, and then captured flightless young, scavenged broken egg shells from abandoned nests or lifted eggs from unattended nests to obtain the DNA of offspring. His study included 126 adult turkeys - 51 males and 75 females - and 325 offspring
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Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley
2-Mar-2005