HUMAN COLONY FORMATION 



show this tendency to only a very slight extent. Such 

 animal instincts as result in the building of nests, the 

 fashioning of habitations in the earth and the food 

 storage habits of certain species, are examples of some 

 slight modification of surroundings in the direction 

 of raised organization. The most far-reaching change 

 of this kind among the mammals, is brought about by 

 the beaver, an animal which may be considered to have 

 developed a measure of colony formation. Orderly 

 modification of surroundings is actually more evident 

 among those species of insects which have formed well- 

 integrated colonies. Although the structural complex- 

 ity of an individual insect member of the colony seems 

 lower than that of a mammal, the extent to which an 

 insect colony increases the extropy of its ambient is 

 greater than it is for any mammal, except man. 



Apparently, once the development of living matter 

 has begun to reach the "societal stage," the raising of 

 the organization of the immediate surroundings be- 

 comes a concurrent feature. The proximate causes for 

 this become evident, if one analyzes the initial mech- 

 anism by means of which this modification of surround- 

 ings takes place. 



Two problems which face all living creatures are the 

 securing of an adequate food supply and some degree 

 of protection against the elements and against enemies. 

 EfiEective solution of these problems for a large number 

 of individual animals living in close proximity must, 



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