Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 18 of 30
Russian biologists, in the face of the im mense difficulties for living things provided by the severe climate of their country, came to recognize early that it was not the individual of greatest stren th that always survived, but that nature provi ed a great law of helpfulness among the animals. They called attention then to the principle of mutual aid as of probably more importance than the struggle for life as a factor in evolution and it has now come to be recognized that practically all living things have instincts of mutual aid that are extremely precious for them. The smallest living beings. The insects, frankly live community lives for mutual protection, not only against enemies but against the vicissitudes of climate and for the conservation of food. The smaller mam mals often live in villages, so-called, or groups that prove distinctly helpful. Even the larger mammals possess the same precious instinct, and wild horses herd together for protection against packs of wolves which hunt together because thus they are able to overcome even the very large animals. A drove of wild horses, when attacked by a pack of wolves, gather in a circle, heads toward the centre.
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