Re: NANFA-L-- Kin Selection

marxxx (marxxx-in-earthlink.net)
Wed, 16 Feb 2005 09:28:54 -0500

If one gets picked off by a
> predator, it's not like he sends out an e-mail to Predators-in-actwin.com,
"Hey
> guys, don't eat that red thing." They each have to learn on their own (or
> get it ingrained into their genetics as an instinct, which is even more
far
> fetched...). So, a handful of newts with a neon eat-me sign on them can
> only train a handful of predators. . . .

JW,

Good thought, but your last sentence is assuming that a predator will only
eat one newt in it's life. It is more likely that predator would eat 100's
or 1000's of newts throughout it life. If that is the case, each predator
learning not eat them could have a huge impact on a localized population.

Mark

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