Altruistic Behavior In Mammals

Both the passage and the lecture discuss about the altruistic behavior of mammals especially humans and meerkats. The former argues that mammals exhibit this kind of behavior selflessly, but the lecture contradicts this notion based on four pieces of evidence. First, the author contends that the sentinel guarding other meerkats goes without food to serve for the other members of the group. However, the lecturer argues that according to extensive study, the sentinel eats food before it stands guard, and it’s stomach is already full while others hunt for food. Moreover, the text maintains that sentinel put itself in grave danger by standing guard alone. So when a predator approaches the group of meerkat the sentinel risks its life by issuing an alarm for the group to escape. But, the lecture rebuts that the sentinel always stands near the burrow that it lives in making it safer to escape in an event a predator approaches. She stated that by doing so the other members of the group are more likely to be the victims of an attack. In addition, the reading suggests that by issuing alarm on seeing a predator the sentinel risks itself being caught and it does this for the group in a self-sacrificing manner. In contrast, the professor asserts that giving out this kind of alarm would cause others in the group to gather together which is likely to attract predators more often. As a result, the predator might attack the group while the sentinel escapes unharmed. Finally, the text argues that humans show altruistic behavior in exchange of little to no benefit. On the other hand, the listening argues that people may undertake such tasks to gain social appraisal and to boost self-worth. She points out that getting approval from society might seem valuable for most people which could be the driving factor such behavior.