Importance of cooperation and affiliation in the evolution of primate sociality.

Out-Group Threat Promotes Within-Group Affiliation in a Cooperative Fish.

In social species, conflict with outsiders is predicted to affect within-group interactions and thus influence group dynamics and the evolution and maintenance of sociality. Although empirical evidence exists for a relationship between out-group conflict and intragroup behavior in humans, experimental tests in other animals are rare. In a model fish system, we show that simulated out-group intr...

TROPICAL BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT - Vol. VIII - Evolution Of Sociality And Cooperation In Tropical Animals - Regina H. Macedo,Daniel P. Decanini and Jefferson Graves ©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) EVOLUTION OF SOCIALITY AND COOPERATION IN TROPICAL ANIMALS

Evolution in the social brain.

The evolution of unusually large brains in some groups of animals, notably primates, has long been a puzzle. Although early explanations tended to emphasize the brain's role in sensory or technical competence (foraging skills, innovations, and way-finding), the balance of evidence now clearly favors the suggestion that it was the computational demands of living in large, complex societies that ...

Evidence for loss of nepotism in the evolution of permanent sociality

Kin selected benefits of cooperation result in pronounced kin discrimination and nepotism in many social species and favour the evolution of sociality. However, low variability in relatedness among group members, infrequent competitive interactions with non-relatives, and direct benefits of cooperation may relax selection for nepotism. We tested this prediction in a permanently social spider, S...

Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates.

Explanations for primate brain expansion and the evolution of human cognition and culture remain contentious despite extensive research. While multiple comparative analyses have investigated variation in brain size across primate species, very few have addressed why primates vary in how much they use social learning. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that the enhanced reliance on socially transm...