Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour

V.C. Wynne-Edwards's 1962 work, Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour, proposed that group selection could explain behaviors that seemed to contradict individual natural selection. Wynne-Edwards argued that animals might subordinate selfish interests for the good of the group, particularly in altruistic behaviors like cooperative breeding. He suggested this group-oriented behavior helped regulate population sizes, preventing overgrowth and safeguarding species.1

This idea challenged the prevailing neo-Darwinian view, which emphasized selection at the individual or gene level. Critics argued that Wynne-Edwards's examples were often based on non-cohesive groups or individual actions. However, the concept of group selection has seen renewed interest as part of multilevel selection theories, which explore how altruistic groups might have greater reproductive success, thereby promoting altruism within a population.1