Altruism is a type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of another animal or group of animals. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness; individuals performing altruistic acts gain nothing for themselves.
Examples of altruism abound, both among humans and among other mammals. Unselfish acts among humans range from the sharing of food with strangers to the donation of body organs to family members, and even to strangers. Such acts are altruistic in that they benefit another, yet provide little reward to the one performing the act.In fact, many species of animals appear willing to sacrifice food, or even their life, to assist other members of their group.
The meerkat, which is a mammal that dwells in burrows in grassland areas of Africa, is often cited as an example. In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained. If the sentinel meerkat sees a predator such as a hawk approaching the group, it gives an alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run and seek shelter. By standing guard,the sentinel meerkat gains nothing—it goes without food while the others eat, and it places itself in grave danger. After it issues an alarm, it has to flee alone, which might make it more at risk to a predator, since animals in groups are often able to work together to fend off a predator. So the altruistic sentinel behavior helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat’s group.
Listening Script:
You know, often in science, new findings force us to re-examine earlier beliefs and assumptions.
And a recent study of meerkats is having exactly this effect. The study examined the meerkat’s behavior quite closely, much more closely than had ever been done before. And some interesting things were found . . . like about eating habits . . . it showed that typically meerkats eat before they stand guard—so the ones standing guard had a full stomach! And the study also found that since the sentinel is the first to see a predator coming, it’s the most likely to escape . . . because it often stands guard near a burrow, so it can run immediately into the burrow after giving the alarm.
The other meerkats, the ones scattered about looking for food, are actually in greater danger. And in fact, other studies have suggested that when an animal creates an alarm,the alarm call might cause the other group members either to gather together or else to move about very quickly, behaviors that might actually draw the predator’s attention away from the caller, increasing that animal’s own chances of survival.
And what about people—what about some human acts that might be considered altruistic? Let’s take an extreme case, uh, suppose a person donates a kidney to a relative, or even to a complete stranger. A selfless act, right? But . . . doesn’t the donor receive appreciation and approval from the stranger and from society? Doesn’t the donor gain an increased sense of self-worth? Couldn’t such non-material rewards be considered very valuable to some people?
The author and lecture are both about altruism behaviour of animals and human being. The author argues that many species of animals appears willing to sacrifice food, even their life so as to assist other members of their group. However, the lecturer refutes the claim of the author. he is of the opinion that in case of a dangerous condition, animals are most likely to escape. The lecturer cast doubt on the main point made in the reading by providing three reasons.
To begin with, the author stated that in the group of meerkat mammals, individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while another hunt for food. Nevertheless, this argument is challenged by the author by mentioning that in the group of cat mammals, they eat food before act as standing guard.
Secondly, According to the reading, humans do unselfish act by sharing food with strangers, moreover donation of the body organ to family members and even to strangers. Such donation provides a little reward to one who is a donor. Howbeit, the lecturer rebut thus by mentioning that donation of kidney organ of the body to the family and even to strangers is not an altruism activity.
Finally, the author posits that altruistic sentinel behaviour helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat's group. Nonetheless, the lecturer believes that some mammals give an alarm in case of the dangerous condition and escape individually .i.e. these animals are selfishness.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 184, Rule ID: SO_AS_TO[1]
Message: Use simply 'to'
Suggestion: to
...ling to sacrifice food, even their life so as to assist other members of their group. Ho...
^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 285, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: He
...cturer refutes the claim of the author. he is of the opinion that in case of a dan...
^^
Line 10, column 254, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...gerous condition and escape individually .i.e. these animals are selfishness.
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, however, if, look, moreover, nevertheless, nonetheless, second, secondly, so, thus, while, as to, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 8.0 10.4613686534 76% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 0.0 5.04856512141 0% => OK
Conjunction : 6.0 7.30242825607 82% => OK
Relative clauses : 8.0 12.0772626932 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 13.0 22.412803532 58% => OK
Preposition: 40.0 30.3222958057 132% => OK
Nominalization: 6.0 5.01324503311 120% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1241.0 1373.03311258 90% => OK
No of words: 246.0 270.72406181 91% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.04471544715 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.96035189615 4.04702891845 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.59361380572 2.5805825403 101% => OK
Unique words: 139.0 145.348785872 96% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.565040650407 0.540411800872 105% => OK
syllable_count: 382.5 419.366225166 91% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 3.25607064018 123% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 12.0 13.0662251656 92% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 21.2450331126 94% => OK
Sentence length SD: 41.0638899224 49.2860985944 83% => OK
Chars per sentence: 103.416666667 110.228320801 94% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.5 21.698381199 94% => OK
Discourse Markers: 10.4166666667 7.06452816374 147% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 4.19205298013 72% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.196099592342 0.272083759551 72% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0644815169772 0.0996497079465 65% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0554802754966 0.0662205650399 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.107870735388 0.162205337803 67% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0283578523124 0.0443174109184 64% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.6 13.3589403974 94% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 53.8541721854 95% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 11.0289183223 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.95 12.2367328918 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.61 8.42419426049 102% => OK
difficult_words: 62.0 63.6247240618 97% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 10.7273730684 70% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 10.498013245 95% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.2008830022 107% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.