    9

    fact, d

    uring the American Civil War, relatives squaring off on opposite

    sides did not protect those who shared their genes, they threatened to

    destroy them.

    Even more damning, women in a murderous frame of mind

    usually do away with their own children.19   Says researcher Donald T.

    Lunde, "...almost all infants who are killed are killed by their moth-

    ers."20 These mothers wipe out the very offspring who would carry

    their genes into the next generation.  (The next favorite target of

    married women is their husband or lover.) And these grim facts of life

    are not restricted to the United States.  Murderers in the USSR, Hong

    Kong and Britain also show a predilection for killing those who share

    their genes.21

    Kin selectionists have had a difficult time explaining yet another

    mystery: why among some social animals a few members of the herd

    will stand up and shriek when a predator approaches, even at the risk

    of making themselves obvious to the predator and becoming his first

    meal.

    A herd of Thompson's gazelles is grazing quietly in an open East

    African field.  A hungry leopard approaches quietly from downwind,

    holding its body low in the tall grass.  Suddenly a gazelle raises her

    head, cocks her ear, and freezes.  A snapping sound has aroused her

    suspicions.  Looking around, she spots the silhouette of the leopard's

    head.  What does she do?  To enhance her own survival and that of her

    genes, her best strategy would be to move to the center of the herd,

    making herself as unobtrusive as possible.  The leopard would then

    pick off some unsuspecting and unrelated creature on the herd's

    periphery.  The gazelle's worst approach, on the other hand, would be

    to draw attention.  Research shows that predators almost invariably go

    for a herd animal that is acting different from the rest.22

    But the gazelle who has just spotted the clawed creature does not

    quietly blend into the bunch. She breaks into a strange run punctuated

    by abrupt jumps into the air.  Her behavior alerts her herd-mates to the

    prowling cat.  One after another, they join the running and jumping.

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