Final answer:
Altruism refers to behaviors in animals where an individual sacrifices its own fitness to increase the fitness of another. This can include protecting the group, caring for non-offspring, or other selfless acts that benefit others at a personal cost. Altruism is observed across the animal kingdom and can be motivated by a range of factors, including genetic relatedness and reciprocal benefits.
Step-by-step explanation:
When one animal makes a sacrifice to support or benefit another, this is called altruism. Altruism is a form of prosocial behavior that can be motivated by selfless helping of others. It involves behaviors that lower the fitness of the individual but increase the fitness of another individual. Altruistic behaviors are widely observed across the animal kingdom, including social insects like worker bees maintaining the queen, meerkats keeping guard, or mammals caring for their offspring despite the personal risk or lack of direct reproductive benefit.
Richard Dawkins, in his book The Selfish Gene, explains these behaviors from the perspective of genetic survival. The gene-centric view suggests that even seemingly altruistic acts may increase the likelihood of genetic replication if they benefit related individuals who share similar genes. However, unrelated individuals may also engage in altruistic acts like reciprocal grooming among monkeys, demonstrating that the behavior can also yield mutual benefit over time, known as reciprocal altruism.