SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Digital Commons @ ESF Honors Theses 2015 The Touch of Nature Has Made the Whole World Kin: Interspecies Kin Selection in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Laura E. Jenkins Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/honors Part of the Animal Law Commons, Animal Studies Commons, Behavior and Ethology Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, and the Human Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Jenkins, Laura E., "The Touch of Nature Has Made the Whole World Kin: Interspecies Kin Selection in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora" (2015). Honors Theses. 74. https://digitalcommons.esf.edu/honors/74 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ ESF. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ESF. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. 2015 The Touch of Nature Has Made the Whole World Kin INTERSPECIES KIN SELECTION IN THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA LAURA E. JENKINS Abstract The unequal distribution of legal protections on endangered species has been attributed to the “charisma” and “cuteness” of protected species. However, the theory of kin selection, which predicts the genetic relationship between organisms is proportional to the amount of cooperation between them, offers an evolutionary explanation for this phenomenon. In this thesis, it was hypothesized if the unequal distribution of legal protections on endangered species is a result of kin selection, then the genetic similarity between a species and Homo sapiens is proportional to the legal protections on that species.