Benefits of Cooperative Breeding
There are many other possible explanations for cooperative breeding other than kin selection. Helping is not restricted to groups of closely related members, and it could also be a form of gaining parental experience, acquiring social status, “rent payment” for a shared habitat, or a gateway for future mating opportunities. Another primary explanation for cooperative breeding is group augmentation. In many species, survival is greater in large groups due to the benefits of large group numbers. Some species may experience passive benefits (actions that indirectly increase the fitness of an animal) due to the presence of other group members, such as the dilution effect, while others may experience active benefits (actions that are directed specifically to increase an animal’s fitness) that depend on the help that new members might offer. These benefits of cooperative breeding will occur in a population only if it is better to stay and help other individuals than to move somewhere else and attempt breeding. In this way, helping could evolve through group augmentation if the larger group sizes result in automatic passive benefits to all group members. However without passive benefits, larger groups could still receive active benefits in the form of delayed reciprocity. Therefore it might be advantageous for a subordinate to provide aid to a dominant individual even if it is completely unrelated.
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