From Darwin himself onward, ants have posed a challenge to evolutionary
biologists: whether it is “survival of the fittest” or “selfish genes” how can
it explain altruism among ant workers, who are sterile and leave no
successors? In Social Evolution in Ants (Princeton University Press,
£19.95/$29.95, ISBN 0 691 04426 0), Andrew Bourke and Nigel
Franks meet this challenge head-on, explaining kin selection theory and all
its ramifications. Not a book for the merely curious or faint-hearted, but
clear and thorough.
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