The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today

by Helena Cronin, John Maynard Smith (Foreword)

The "ant" and the "peacock" stand for two puzzles in Darwinism--altruism and sexual selection. How can natural selection favor those, such as the worker ant, that renounce tooth and claw in favor of the public-spirited ways of the commune? And how can "peacocks"--flamboyant, ornamental and apparently useless--be tolerated by the grimly economical Darwinian reaper? Helena Cronin has a deep understanding of today's answers to these riddles and their roots in the nineteenth century; the analysis is new and exciting and the explanations lucid and compelling.

Genres: Science, Evolution, Biology, Nonfiction, Natural History, Psychology, Genetics

504 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1991

Reviews

[Xander · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the most boring books I have ever read. I decided pick up this book because of the many references in Dawkins's and Pinker's books on evolutionary biology and psychology (respectively). The two topics with which The Ant and the Peacock is concerned - the history of thinking about sexual selection and the paradox between altruism and selfish genes - are very interesting. Both subjects give us a deep insight into the complex workings of evolution by natural selection.

When I picked up this book, I was ready to learn more about both topics. I didn't know that Helena Cronin's purpose with her book was to outline the historical progress in scientific thinking about both topics - nothing more, nothing less. This is (mainly) why I was disappointed in the book.

Besides these hurt expectations, I also found the book a struggle to get through. Cronin's design is to give a very detailed description of who thought what about the topic involved, and when. Even more: she continuously tries to answer the why questions as well. So we read, for example, how Darwin's conception of Victorian women led him to his theory of sexual selection. This shouldn't be called science, but pseudo-psychology.

The subjects covered can be summarized fairly briefly. The peacock in the title stands for Darwin's idea of sexual selection. Organisms compete for mates, leading to inter- and intrasexual selection. The sex that invests most in offspring (females in human beings, as well as in most organisms) is more choosy when it comes to mating. This leads to intrasexual competition: males competing against males for access to females - this is the explanation for all the intricate, superfically useless characteristics like deer antlers and size differences between females and males. Females also compete with females to gain access to the best males, but this is slightly less important than male competition.

Besides intrasexual conflict, there's also lots of intersexual conflict, hence Darwin's notion of the peacock. The male peacock has to outcompete his rivals by displaying the most and longest feathers. It is easy to see that the female's choice puts evolutionary pressure on male peacocks to have huge tails - which natural selection would, instantly, do away with, since it decreases the bearer's chances of survival.

This is, by the way, the most commonly accepted scientific explanation for the existence of things like peacock's tails: a huge tail is a marker for the female that a male peacock can survive even with this huge handicap. Showing off only works, if you put your money where your mouth is.

The second part of the book is concerned with the problem of altruism. This problem stems from the time when biologists still thought that group selection exists. Now we know this is very unlikely: an individual that behaves with regard to the species as a whole is liable to be cheated by individuals that only look out for number one. (Putting the question aside how organisms can know what's best for the future of the species in the first places.) When Dawkins and Wilson - in the 1970's - offered a more accurate way of theorizing about natural selection - from a gene's eye view - the question arose how selfish genes can lead to altruism. Isn't it obvious that cheaters would infiltrate a population of altruists?

Ever since Robert Trivers's notion of 'reciprocal altruism' and John Maynard Smith's theory of 'kin selection' we know that the gene's eye view can perfectly account for the existence of altruism in populations built by selfish genes.

You share genes with your siblings, parents, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc. This means that when you help them, you help your own genes. This leads to the - confirmed - prediction that the closer you are to a relative - i.e. the more genes you share on average - the more altruistic you should behave towards them. So, to paraphrase J.B.S. Haldane: I should give up my own life for two of my siblings, four of my grand children, eight nieces and nephews, etc.

Reciprocal altruism is another explanation - which can and should be used in combination with kin selection (!) - for the existence of altruism between non-related individuals in populations. After a night's out, vampire bats regurgitate part of their collected blood to donate it to group members who couldn't find any prey. How is this an evolutionary stable strategy? Well, they remember which individuals reciprocate and which don't; hence, they can exclude cheaters. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. This, by the way, presupposes (primitive) cognitive powers in order to recognize individuals and remember past events.

The above is, in a nutshell, altruism and sexual selection. It becomes (of course) much more complicated the more one zooms in on the details. Nevertheless, it's the core of the book. But that would be too much to say, though; Cronin only deals with nineteenth century thinking about these topics. She focuses on Darwin, Wallace, Huxley, Spencer and co and outlines their thinking about the two subjects. So, if you want to learn about how these ideas developed, step by step, throughout the nineteenth century, read Cronin's book. If not, you at least know what it's about - without bothering to plough through 400+ pages.

In general, I can only recommend this book to readers who (1) have loads of time to dedicate to this tome and (2) are extremely interested in the historical development of scientific ideas (mind you: I'm not talking about the historical developments of science!) about altruism and sexual selection.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cronin presents the history of the discussions of sexual selection and altruism from Darwin and Wallace into the late 20th century in a lucid and well documented style. She poses good questions and makes the historical context clear, especially as to the debates and criticisms that were being addressed. Her presentation clearly demonstrates the facets of both sexual selection and altruism and how they have been challenges to an adaptationist and Darwinian view of the evolutionary process. The book includes notes on the letters of Darwin and Wallace, an extensive bibliography, and an index.

Highly recommended for those interested in Darwin and Wallace, the history of evolutionary thought, the process of science (especially as a social enterprise), and a more depthful understanding of sexual selection and altruism.

[Merilee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally finished it, but I must admit I skimmed a lot of the 2nd half. It is very competently written, but has more depth and history about the origins of cooperation and sexual selection than I had the patience for.

[Dan Burton · Rating 2 out of 5]

More history of science than science.

[David Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be a five-star rating because the book covers such important territory and because the language is so beautiful. However, the material, cited by may as the best about the mysterious origins of the peacock's tail and the ant's altruism, is nonpersuasive. It is more a telling of what others have written than a lucid explanation of the mechanisms for these non-intuitive phenomena. Further, I spent too much brain figuring out the pretty language -- leaving not enough brain to understand what all these smart people were thinking.

My experience was three stars, but I have to recognize that this is a brilliant book. (Still, maybe just a bit too brilliant.)

[Leonardo]

...muestra cuán estrechamente relacionadas están las características del sexo y la edad de los asesinos en diferentes lugares.

Desigualdad Pág.154

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, but quite long-winded and repetitive, exploration of altruism and sexual selection from the gene's-eye view, including criticism of woolly group selectionist thinking. Great book to read after The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

[Damen Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

演化論是生物學中永恆的主題。

在演化論萌芽之時，生物學有兩大不解之迷：一是以孔雀尾羽為代表的性擇理論，二是以螞蟻為代表的利他行為。

科學家難以解釋，某些生物的極特出體徴，如鳥類又長又大的尾屏、鮮豔亮麗的羽色等，到底有什麼實用價值？天擇是實用主義的信徒，普遍的信念是生物的體徵都經過長年累月的特化，為的就是讓生物更好因應牠們的生存挑戰，將基因帶到未來；偏偏這些大尾屏與羽色，不單止沒有適應上的功能，反而會妨礙到生物的生存；另一方面，某些動物利他生為，如協助單一雌性的生育而自己放棄生育、高聲警告同伴獵食者的到來而暴露自己的位置等等，這些行為表面上都顯然等同放棄自己的基因利益，這類行為背後的原因到底是什麼？

本書的旨趣，就是回顧解答這些問題的一段歷史，當中又以達爾文與華萊士之間的爭議著墨最多。

寫這類科學史絕不容易，本書的結構雖然鮮明，章節間亦可清楚看到當中的連結，但在科學門外漢的眼睛裡，很多「爭議」都不過是旁支末節的小問題，完全不值得大書特書，作者亦似乎未能讓讀者了解到這些爭議到底有多大的重要性，讀來平實得全無戲劇張力可言，結果全書就像流水帳，興味索然。全書上下兩冊幾近七百頁，無聊瑣碎的篇幅太多，如果能集中討論幾個重大的焦點問題，會比無所不包的流水帳的可讀性強得多。

如果想多了解演化生物學，我還是比較推薦《盲眼鐘錶匠》和《自私的基因》。《螞蟻與孔雀》只能算是平庸的作品。

[Teddy Dodger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easier read than Dawkins and gives me a bigger overview of some of the bigger themes in Darwinism since 1859.

Need to re-read last sections on human morality/speciation

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary book, clearly and amusingly written, dealing with long-vexing issues with classical and modern (pre-1980s) Darwinian selection: sexual selection, altruism, and (at the end of the altruism section) speciation. None other than George C Williams gave it a highly favourable review in QRB.

I will reread this and parts of this many times.

[Koen Crolla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weapons-grade dull, though not uniformly so. Not so much about our modern understanding of altruism (the ant) and sexual selection (the peacock) as it is about what an endless parade of dead and superseded biologists once thought on the subjects. The second section (The Peacock) is particularly guilty of this, devoting page after interminable page to the letters and opinions of Darwin and Wallace, neither of whom had much of genuine interest to say.
Cronin, not being a biologist but a philosopher, lacks both the spine and the insight to draw meaningful conclusions or even present the modern consensus (or the modern consensus as of 1991), and most of the book is just boring he-said, she-said (or rather, he-said, he-said†). When she does try her hand at taking a stand, the results are mixed at best; arguably the low point comes in the first section (Darwinism, Its Rivals and Its Renegades), when she discusses Lamarckism, painting ``neo-Lamarckian'' hypotheses for which there is a perfectly plausible mechanism (a child inheriting acquired resistance to certain diseases from its mother, with whom it has shared a cardiovascular system for nine months) as just as obviously ridiculous as the most extreme straw versions (cutting off the tails of mice for generations to observe whether or not their offspring spontaneously lose theirs).
The third section (The Ant) has its moments, but not enough of them to redeem the book as a whole.

If what you're looking for is a ponderous, unrigorous, incomplete history of a small part of evolutionary biology, The Ant and the Peacock may be interesting to you. If you're interested in the actual science, skip it. I genuinely don't know why this book is as popular as it is.

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† One thing that did surprise me in a book that got the Richard Dawkins seal of approval‡ was her willingness to point out systemic sexism in biology as a field, particularly taking issue with the common descriptors of ``coy females'' and ``eager males'', as opposed to, e.g., ``discerning females'' and ``wanton males''. (Not that Cronin isn't really big on internalised misogyny herself; it's just not very apparent in this particular book.)

‡ Which was why I bought it in the first place. To be fair, this was years ago, before even Elevatorgate, and long before he definitively went off the deep end and became the outright piece of shit he is today. Even so, it seems the main reason he recommended it was because Cronin spends quite a lot of time buttering him up.

[John Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book addresses two of the more interesting puzzles for evolution by natural selection: how natural selection can lead to wasteful displays such as the peacock's tail, on one hand, and self-sacrificial behavior such as that of animal lookouts and especially social insects, on the other. The author thoroughly discusses the issues and seems very knowledgeable on the subject.

The weakness of the book results from how he author chose to present her material. As another reviewer noted, this book is about the history of science as much is it is about science. The author presents the views of prominent evolutionists, beginning with Darwin and Russell and continuing forward, on almost question that is considered. The result is a sort of intellectual ping-pong, as the author jumps from the view of one scientist to the contrary view of another, which can be hard to follow.

All in all, this is a good book and well worth reading, but be forewarned that it can be a demanding read for a non-specialist (like me). It requires both effort and a certain degree of intelligence from the reader.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I have to admit I only read the first 2/3s of this book--the background and then the "peacock" part. I haven't returned it to the library yet because I hope to eventually read the "ant" part. Anyway, HIGHLY recommended if you need to know the history of sexual selection research. When it came to sexual selection, apparently Wallace was more Darwinian than Darwin! (It's dry reading but extremely useful.)

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Cronin is masterful in her overview of altruism, but somewhat long and dry on sexual selection . . . still,a compelling and powerful book overall that displays Cronin's vastness of knowledge in this area. If you need to know, or even want to know, how the history of sexual selection itself evolved in the scope of biological evolution, a great place to begin.

[Lakshmikanth · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many references.. hard go through with it.. there are some interesting things I learned from it.. but it took a long time for me to read it through..