Abstract

Scientists generally rely on mathematics to reduce "real" life to manageable and interpretable models. A branch of mathematics called game theory allows the scientist to reduce interactions between individuals to a series of games. These games are created to imitate natural behavior. Games modelling evolution are particularly useful, because they can make projections about the survival of a phenotype in a population. Vampire bat mothers have been known to share milk with pups that belong to other mothers. By using a game theoretic model, a comparison was made between this behavior and another contradicting behavior to determine whether or not sharing milk is evolutionarily stable.