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Is peace a human phenomenon?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Elva J. H. Robinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK elva.robinson@york.ac.uk https://www.york.ac.uk/biology/research/ecology-evolution/elva-robinson/
António M. M. Rodrigues
Affiliation:
School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK antonio.rodrigues@berkeley.edu https://antoniommrodrigues.wordpress.com/ Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Jessica L. Barker
Affiliation:
Interacting Minds Centre, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark jessiebarker@gmail.com https://interactingminds.au.dk/people Aarhus University, Surgo Health, Washington DC, USA
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Peace is a hallmark of human societies. However, certain ant species engage in long-term intergroup resource sharing, which is remarkably similar to peace among human groups. We discuss how individual and group payoff distributions are affected by kinship, dispersal, and age structure; the challenges of diagnosing peace; and the benefits of comparing convergent complex behaviours in disparate taxa.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Present address: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.

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