Cooperation

This article is about cooperation as used in the social sciences. For co-operation in evolution, see Co-operation (evolution). For the economic model, see Cooperative. For other uses, see Cooperation (disambiguation).
Many animal species cooperate with each other in mutual symbiosis. One example is the ocellaris clownfish, which dwells among the tentacles of Ritteri sea anemones. The anemones provide the clownfish with protection from their predators (which cannot tolerate the stings of the sea anemone's tentacles), while the fish defend the anemones against butterflyfish (which eat anemones)

Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time,[1] coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition for selfish individual benefit. In biology, many animal and plant species cooperate both with other members of their own species and with members of other species with whom they have (symbiotic or mutualistic) relationships.[2]

  1. ^ "coöperation - Accent marks in English?". groups.google.com - alt.usage.english. Newsgroup: alt.usage.english.
  2. ^ Kohn, Alfie (1992). No Contest: The Case Against Competition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-395-63125-6.