This video from 2018 has me wondering about the behavior of one species protecting another species.
Just how common is this kind of behavior? And is it truly altruistic or are there some other less obvious evolutionary calculations going on? (Most likely the long time rewards of uniting against a common foe.)
This BBC video is about 4 min long.
Ants and aphids come to mind, of course, but that is not really altruistic. Also they may be a special case as the workers don’t reproduce.
I imagine that, aside from when there are obvious ecological ties as in the example above, it’s more a thing that just sometimes happens due to a multitude of reasons. Perhaps it could even be a behaviour that would be positively selected under certain circumstances if the situations occurred more frequently (and under the assumption that the rescuer doesn’t usually get seriously injured, or killed).
In very social (and reasonably “sentient”) species, an innate sense of empathy may extend beyond the boundaries of taxa in at least some individuals.
If two species have a shared predator, an individual may feel threatened and attack and save another individual of a different species purely accidentally.
Etc.
This is all speculation. It would be interesting to see if there is research on this topic. I’ll look into it later, if someone else hasn’t by then ^^
When I read the title I was wondering if the post is about birds and it was.
Inter-species cooperation is widespread among birds, like mixed flocks and various pilot birds.
Elsewhere it is more like an exception. I can’t think of other examples than us, humans and cleaning fish.
The video is easier for me to understand when I think about individuals from other species as having a character.
Humpback whales are known to “protect” other species from orca whales, including seals and even large fish. AFAIK, no studies have been done as to exactly why they do it. If we go with Occam’s Razor, it could be that the humpbacks aren’t necessarily protecting other species but just really, REALLY don’t like orcas hunting in their territory (they also prey on humpback calves). The same concept can be applied to other cases of inter-species predator responses, I think.
I don’t know. But that was a delightful video.
There are many more, I believe. A couple that come to mind:
bee eating birds work with human wild honey seekers by locating a hive and leading the humans to it. Humans get the honey, the bird, the bees.
certain mid-sized tuna (the skipjack, maybe?) have learned to hunt small fish with whale sharks. The tuna do the broad focusing of a school and the whale shark focuses that into a dense ball. Then both go at it.
crows who follow wolf packs and lead themto weakened herd animals by imitating a howl.
As for protection alliances, I do remember about wrass cleaning stations and what happens if an inexperienced predator decides to attack the cleaners. The other fish in line (including their own species) will drive the attacker away and keep it away. The fact that predator and prey suspend the chase while waiting in line amazes me. How long did it take to work out the real importance of orderly patient, etiquette for all this?
I also seem to remember reading about some economist who studies natural behavior and works out the economic math of such behaviour in terms of costs and benefits. According to him, we still have a lot to learn!
Okay, so I’ve been doing some light research on this topic tonight. While I’m still looking for any sources focusing on other inter-species interactions, I did find this paper focusing on the humpbacks and orcas I mentioned previously: Humpback whales interfering when mammal-eating killer whales attack other species: Mobbing behavior and interspecific altruism?. Though it’s a bit out of my comfort zone, it’s a really fascinating read that has many sources that may be of interest for this topic. Here’s a quote from the discussion that sums it up quite nicely:
More often though, humpbacks approached MEKWs [mammal-eating killer whales] that were attacking prey species that were clearly not humpbacks (e.g., a gray whale calf with its mother, a seal hauled out on an ice floe, a sunfish), and although the humpbacks faced little risk of serious injury, they also gained no obvious benefits for their time and energy spent. However, if the net effect for mobbing humpbacks was an increase in their individual or inclusive fitness through kin selection or reciprocity, then this behavior could persist even if it inadvertently benefitted other species sometimes.
I’m really interested in seeing if there are any other/newer papers relating to this topic now. My research is being hampered somewhat by so many articles and papers being behind paywalls/access gates (not sure if my old credentials will work now), but I’ll keep my feelers out.
Some blind snakes are reported to preferentially reside in bird nests to receive some predator protection as well as feed on the insects that parasitize the birds and so may actually enter into some form of mutualism.
Some turtles may nest in the egg mounds created by crocodilians and therefore receive protection from the mother crocs, which actively defend the nest, not to mention a favorable incubation environment from the decomposing compost the mounds are usually created from.