Some animals are altruistic. Some plants are altruistic too.

Researchers from the University of Colorado-Boulder have found evidence that suggests some plants are altruistic or unselfish or selfless too.

UC-Boulder researchers examined corn, in which each fertilized seed contained an embryo and a matching piece of tissue known as endosperm that nourishes the embryo as the seed grows. They compared the growth and behavior of the embryos and endosperm in seeds with the same mother and father with the growth and behavior of embryos and endosperm that had genetically different parents..

The researchers say:

“The results indicated embryos with the same mother and father as the endosperm in their seed weighed significantly more than embryos with the same mother but a different father..”

“We found that endosperm that does not share the same father as the embryo does not hand over as much food — it appears to be acting less cooperatively.”

“Altruism only evolves if the benefactor is a close relative of the beneficiary. When the endosperm gives all of its food to the embryo and then dies, it doesn’t get more altruistic than that.”

I haven’t seen altruism in plants yet. But I have seen altruism in animals. They are amazing.

Some scientists believe humans have in-built altruism. But most humans behave altruistically towards close kin than to distant kin and non-kin. I wish humans could be more altruistic towards non-kin, animals and plants. The idea of the ‘survival of the fittest’ has been replaced by the idea of the ‘survival of the nicest.’

Beauté Animale

I saw an exhibition on animal’s beauty at Grand Palais in Paris today. I like the exhibition. I really do.
The people behind the exhibition say, ‘there is still a close link between art and science, between our desire to know about animals and our fascination for their beauty’. It is true that paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, famous or not-famous.. the exhibition brings together about 130 masterpieces of Western art from the Renaissance to the Modern day, and takes a radical new approach by choosing works in which the animal is shown on its own and for itself, without any human presence.

I liked the monkey room. There I saw 100 school children, five or six years old, brought by their teachers, were learning about evolution. Children were listening attentively. I was so happy! That was one of the effective ways to learn about the truth.

They say about monkeys and men:

The publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859 was a shock for Judeo-Christian civilization. The naturalist developed his theory of natural selection, based on the struggle for life, and suggested that men and monkeys were cousins. Artists were keenly interested in these theories. The image of the monkey, previously ridiculed and conventional, changed radically and gave rise to disquieting portraits, like Pompon’s extraordinary Orang-utan.

There were some arts on Noah’s ark. The story about Noah’s ark was called a ‘myth’ in the exhibition. Children were laughing at the handful of animals that were waiting for the ark in the paintings. They were saying, ‘even though we are small children we know that there are much more animals in the world, where is dinosaur by the way, not a single polar bear is here. We know better than the myth-creators and the painters. Don’t we?’

I left the exhibition with a good feeling. The future might not be so bleak.