EUSOCIALITY
The science of social life — ants, bees, termites, mole-rats and the biology of cooperation, kinship, and colony behavior.
From working out genetic relatedness and testing Hamilton's rule to projecting a colony's growth, estimating a hive's population, mapping a foraging range, and decoding the waggle dance, Eusociality pairs free hands-on behavioural-ecology tools with practical guides and a richly illustrated museum. Dig deeper into the biology of social life.
Eusociality Tools & Calculators
Free tools for the science of social life — coefficient of relatedness calculator, Hamilton's rule calculator, colony growth calculator, honeybee hive population estimator, foraging range calculator, and waggle dance decoder.
Coefficient of Relatedness Calculator
Read off Wright's coefficient of relatedness (r) for any relationship — from identical twins to first cousins — including the r = 0.75 shared by haplodiploid sisters in bees, ants, and wasps that helps explain eusociality
Hamilton's Rule Calculator
Test rB > C, the equation at the heart of social evolution: enter relatedness, benefit, and cost to see whether kin selection favours an act of altruism and its inclusive-fitness effect
Colony Growth Calculator
Project a colony's worker force over the season from the queen's laying rate, survival to adulthood, development time, and worker lifespan — with the month-by-month curve and steady-state size
Honeybee Hive Population Estimator
Turn a hive inspection into a head count with the beekeeper's frame-count method — adult bees from bee-covered frames plus the sealed brood waiting to emerge
Colony Foraging Range Calculator
Estimate the area a colony can work as a disc of π r² around the nest, in km² and hectares, with species presets and an optional overlap check for colonies at a given density
Waggle Dance Decoder
Decode a honeybee's waggle dance — waggle-run duration gives the distance to the food, and the dance angle plus the sun's azimuth gives a compass bearing to the source
Museum of Social Species
Wander an immersive museum of the animals that live in colonies and cooperate to survive — the social insects of the hive and the anthill alongside the mound-building termites, the eusocial mole-rats and cooperative mammals, and cooperation across the wider animal kingdom, each in its own gallery, so you can get to know the stories behind every social species: how each one lives, what makes its society work, and the role it plays in the study of social behavior.
Tour the museum →From the Journal
Fresh guides on social insects, kin selection, colony biology, eusocial mammals, and cooperation, plus practical explainers on relatedness, Hamilton's rule, foraging, and the waggle dance to help you understand social life.
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Keep Learning
Practical know-how on relatedness, kin selection, and colony biology, plain-language explainers on Hamilton's rule, foraging ranges, and the waggle dance, and seasoned tips for first-time students and lifelong naturalists alike — everything you need to dig deeper into the science of social life.
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