Altruism can be defined as showing selfless concern for the well-being of others. Though it may not look it, we do experience humans expressing altruism in more ways than one. Apart from non-profit organizations or volunteer groups, whose sole purpose is to engage in activities for the welfare of a particular group that they are catering to, there are individuals who have launched their own altruistic initiatives and have found success in helping out others.
Now a study has found that this trait of altruism is not only present in humans, but also in bees. Furthermore, their altruistic nature is not merely instinctive but hereditary. And the way this is expressed is truly fascinating. Since every hive can only have one queen, this begs the question, what do the other female honey bees do? Well, they serve the queen, and they do so by taking care of the queen's offspring. This may sound horrendous for some, but it is in the genetic makeup of the bees that leads to this behavior.
Of course, as humans we probably wouldn't think of giving up our entire life for the service of one particular person, although there are people who do that, and it is quite a noble and honorable thing to do. But I would think a lot more people would have different means of expressing altruism. Salon has distilled the most salient points from the paper which was published on Molecular Ecology.
(Image credit: Ante Hamersmit/Unsplash)