Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees - The Nature of Cooperation in Animals and Humans (Hardcover, New edition)

Here biologist Lee Dugatkin outlines four paths to co-operation shared by humans and other animals: family dynamics, reciprocal transactions (or "tit for tat"), so-called selfish teamwork, and group altruism. He draws on a wealth of examples - from baby-sitting among mongooses and food sharing among vampire bats to co-operation in Hutterite communities and on kibbutzism -to show not only that co-operation exists throughout the animal kingdom, but how an understanding of the natural history of altruism might foster our own best instincts towards our fellow humans.