The Sentinel Behavior of Meerkats
Paragraph 1：A species of small mongooses in Africa called meerkats share sentinel (guard) duties to warn other group members by repeating alarm calls if a predator is seen. This is an important job, because when meerkats are foraging, their heads are in the ground seeking prey, and they cannot see a predator coming.
Paragraph 2：The question is, why do group members take turns acting as sentinels? Kin selection, that is, being able to save the lives of family members can be one hypothesis for this type of sentinel behavior. Family members share copies of a meerkat’s genes. Kin selection is achieved by helping a meerkat’s own offspring as well as non descendant kin, including sibling, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles. Therefore, if members of a certain group are closely related, a sentinel ensures that copies of its genes can be passed on to future generations by saving the majority of family members by alerting others, even at the expense of its own life.
完整版题目和答案请付费后查阅
