Nature 246, 15 - 18 (02 November 1973); doi:10.1038/246015a0

The Logic of Animal Conflict

J. MAYNARD SMITH^* & G. R. PRICE^†

^*School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Sussex BN1 9QG
^†Galton Laboratory, University College London, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE

Conflicts between animals of the same species usually are of "limited war" type, not causing serious injury. This is often explained as due to group or species selection for behaviour benefiting the species rather than individuals. Game theory and computer simulation analyses show, however, that a "limited war" strategy benefits individual animals as well as the species.

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