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Darwin's "survival of the fittest" is universally regarded as a simple reality in the game of life. Successful play sometimes requires a degree of selfishness. However, across the animal kingdom, selfishness is only a very small part of an animal's life. Often, animals help each other and work together for the greater good. Cooperation prevails at every level of the animal kingdom. In the following three examples, it is inspiring to see how animals cooperate to help each other.

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Have you ever observed ants marching in and out of their nest? If so, it may have reminded you of a highway packed with cars. But this comparison is not appropriate. Ants never get into a traffic jam, no matter how fast they move or how many of them occupy the road. This is because their movements are based on cooperation. When there are a few ants moving in a single direction, some ants are likely to move slowly, some fast, and others even faster. As their number increases, however, they communicate with each other so that they all move at the same speed. The slow speed up while the fast and the superfast slow down. There are times when ants leaving the nest for food encounter other ants coming back with food on their backs. When this happens, the inbound ants, the ones carrying a burden, always have the right of way. Outbound ants turn to get out of the way, while inbound ants continue in a straight line. This arrangement makes sense because it is more difficult for inbound ants to change direction due to their heavy loads. Following these rules and cooperating in this way, ants improve the traffic flow and make the delivery of food to the nest more efficient.

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Fish also cooperate. As everyone knows, big fish often eat little fish. Sometimes, however, little fish help the big fish, so the big fish do not eat the little fish. Tiny fish, which scientists refer to as "cleaners," swim into the mouths of bigger fish, which are referred to as "clients." The cleaners eat parasites in the clients' mouths. After the cleaners do their job, the clients let them go, instead of swallowing them. The cleaners get a meal, and the clients get a healthier mouth. Sometimes the cleaner fish chew on the wall of the client fish's mouth. Although this may cause pain, the big fish still do not eat the little ones for two reasons. First, the cleaners are too small to satisfy their hunger. Second, it is hard to find good cleaners. Once the cleaners and the clients establish trust, the clients want to cooperate with the cleaners and keep them around.

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Pied flycatchers are small birds that cooperate in dangerous situations. When a predator enters a flycatcher's area, the flycatcher makes a loud sound for help. Other flycatchers hear the call, and they come to help. As more and more birds join the group, the predator becomes frightened and runs away. It is important to note that flycatchers go to the aid of another bird in danger only if that bird has helped other birds in the past. They do not answer the calls of birds that have refused to help others before. More Info- Do you know how bats cooperate to survive? One kind of bat has a system of food sharing. Bats die if they go two nights without food. As hunting for blood—their only food-is not easy, younger bats fail to find food one night out of three. But hunger is rare because bats that find blood share it with bats that don't.

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Cooperation is a process that started with the first single-celled creatures. Living things, from their beginnings more than three billion years ago, took over the planet by learning to cooperate. We human beings cooperate in plenty of ways, from lining up at a bus stop to sharing knowledge on a website. Sometimes, however, human cooperation can break down. To foster cooperative success among humans, we should perhaps look to nature for inspiration.