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I remember RD discussing this sort of issue in The Selfish Gene - I think the example was swallow chicks, cuckoo-style, tipping the odd sibling (in the egg) out of the nest, and no doubt the lion cub business was mentioned. The key point was that your own species are your most direct competitors.
I always linked that in my mind with JBS Haldane's essay in which he candidly decribed how much he had enjoyed servic in World War I, and Will and Ariel Durant's observation that in several thousand years of human history only 27 had no (recorded) war. Our genes got us here, but we don't always have to approve of their promptings.
Permalink Sun, 01 Jul 2012 21:58:31 UTC | #948413