Like why aren’t lions total roid monsters if only the strongest male gets to breed the females?
In: 6
Without trying to sound smarmy, I ask you to imagine a group of “hunters and gatherers,” where the hunting is incredibly poor, and survival can depend a lot more upon the gathering. (I think there is more and more evidence to support the success of this strategy).
Let me also ask you to consider individuals who may not be so good at the hunting, but they are emotionally bonded with females of multiple generations, and they are also pretty good at helping out with the gathering and the offspring.
The bottom line is that propagating one’s genes is not always dependent upon direct reproduction by the strongest, most testosterone laden beasts of a clan or species. Individuals that encourage the livelihood of nieces, nephews, and cousins can wind up propagating genes that make individuals better at those behaviors.
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t we genetically closer to our nieces and nephews than we are to our grandparents?
Edit: This is one reason why dominant males who kill the offspring of other males may lose out genetically. It could very well be that more of the dominant males offspring would survive if the dominant male had just left the other kids alone.
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