Sociobiology, in its most recent form, dates from the 1970s and the work of Edward O. Wilson. However, the roots of sociobiology are older. The first use of the term sociobiology likely dates to the work of Warder C. Allee, Alfred E. Emerson, and their associates in their 1949 book, Principles of Animal Ecology. Sociobiogists study the behavior of social animals, including humans. Sociobiology developed from studies in population biology and genetics. Research in the social insects, especially ants and honey bees, had shown that the old Darwinian maxim of individual selection, of individuals working for their own reproductive success, did not seem to apply to those groups. The worker castes of those species donot reproduce; yet, their behavior in defense of their nests was tenacious and often life-threatening to the defenders. How could such behavior be explained? The answers began to crystallize when Hamilton (1964) developed the concept of inclusive fitness.
