In: Biology
Darwin argued that natural selection would never cause a trait to evolve in one species that benefitted another species at a fitness expense to the first species. A study of egrets in Florida found that parents eject some of their own chicks from the next. This behavior feeds alligators living in the swamps below the nests. The steady supply of food improves the health and condition of the alligators. In view of Darwin’s logic, what are two hypotheses that might explain why the egrets perform behaviors that benefit alligators?