• Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    From the penguin documentaries I watched as a kid, I feel like the “leaving eggs behind” might involve relentless bullying.

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      It takes two penguins working together to care for an egg, if one penguin dies the remaining penguin can’t hold the egg and feed itself, so either a couple steps up or a lone penguin joins the remaining penguin, having several homosexual couples who are on standby to take care of orphan eggs is a clear evolutionary advantage.

      • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I’d be cautious with saying evolutionary advantage here.

        I don’t believe the “Gay Uncle hypothesis” any more than the somewhat debunked “Grandmother Hypothesis”, which aimed to explain menopause with biological altruism. Just because we could think of a way in that it might be advantageous for a species doesn’t mean it’s advantageous for an individuals fitness.

        Of course, it can be still an advantage, but we’d only know with more free, uncensored research.

        • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          Does evolutionary pressure only exist on individuals? I’ve never heard that. There’s a wide variety of species that are highly socially organized, do you not accept that that’s through evolutionarily pressure?