It has been said that “Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious organism on earth.”
They also do some pretty neat things.
really interesting
Outside of laboratory experiments, cases where social amoebas run across strangers to exploit are rare. Cheater genes peter out once the cheaters run out of nobler amoebas to sponge off of. When exploiting one’s clone mates, greed doesn’t pay.
This reminds me of something I heard in a class in behavioral ecology (many years ago, so, please pardon my vagueness!).
They were talking about altruism and cooperation in several types of mammals (meercats, baboons, chimps). The animals were able to recognize each other as individuals. They remembered who had groomed them or shared food with them, and they responded in kind. Animals that took without giving in return were refused grooming or food the next time. Cooperative behavior was reinforced because those that didn’t cooperate got cold-shouldered.
The prof drew parallels with human life-- he said that people in smaller social groups (where everyone knows everyone else, to some extent) tend to be more cooperative, but in large groups, the anonymity makes it easier to get away with obnoxious behavior. What does it matter if you cut this guy off in traffic? You’re never going to see him again.
Cool stuff-- that was a really weird article!
Amoebas ROCK!
I bet a team of amoebas could beat a team of parameciums in a good game of baseball.