Self-Regulating Systems in Populations of Animals
V. C. Wynne‐Edwards · 2017
This chapter explains a hypothesis which could provide a bridge between two biological realms. On one side is that part of the “Balance of Nature” concerned with regulating the numbers of animals, and on the other is the broad field of social behavior. Populations of animals, especially when they are living under primeval undisturbed conditions, characteristically show an altogether different state of affairs; and this was equally true of man in the former cultural periods of the stone age. Animal behaviorists have studied the hierarchy in its various manifestations for more than forty years, most commonly in relation to food. A corollary of the hypothesis that deserves mention is the extension of sociality that it implies, to animals of almost every kind whether they associate in flocks or seek instead a more solitary way of life. Human populations are of course increasing at compound interest practically all over the world.