Many, if not all, of the world’s religions consider altruism to be an important tenet. Although there is much disagreement about what exactly constitutes altruism, we find agreement that an altruistic act is a selfless one. And, in many ways, this is the simplest ethical code: individuals have a moral obligation to help others.

Humans are not the only species that can be altruistic. Throughout the animal kingdom, there are examples of altruism. Excerpted from Biological Altruism:,

For example, vampire bats regularly regurgitate blood and donate it to other members of their group who have failed to feed that night, ensuring they do not starve.In numerous bird species, a breeding pair receives help in raising its young from other ‘helper’ birds, who protect the nest from predators and help to feed the fledglings.

Vervet monkeys give alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys of the presence of predators, even though in doing so they attract attention to themselves, increasing their personal chance of being attacked.

In social insect colonies (ants, wasps, bees and termites), sterile workers devote their whole lives to caring for the queen, constructing and protecting the nest, foraging for food, and tending the larvae. Such behaviour is maximally altruistic: sterile workers obviously do not leave any offspring of their own — so have personal fitness of zero — but their actions greatly assist the reproductive efforts of the queen.

Altruists International