Animal and human fights both hinge on whether duels or gang-ups occur

Evidence

Duels matter for animal weapons, too, for essentially the same reason. Animal fights occur in all sorts of crazy places, from steep rocky cliffs to canopies of tropical trees and thermal vents on the ocean floor, and the details of these contests vary no less spectacularly. Some of these battles lend themselves to the use of weapons while others do not. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 239

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Big weapons only pay off when fights are one-on-one duels — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 238; Burrow-guarding constrains fights to duels and drives weapon evolution; Concentrating simultaneous fire disfavors large weapons while duels favor them (+6 more)

Related

• One-on-one duels favor weapon evolution while chaotic scrambles do not. (similarity 0.90)
• Big weapons only pay off when fights are one-on-one duels (similarity 0.90)
• Concentrating simultaneous fire disfavors large weapons while duels favor them (similarity 0.89)
• Intense competition without duel structure does not drive weapon evolution. (similarity 0.87)
• Three conditions must align to trigger an animal weapons arms race. (similarity 0.87)
• Human and animal arms races follow parallel evolutionary dynamics (similarity 0.87)
• Dueling plus competition and defensibility is the general rule for extreme weapons (similarity 0.86)
• Identical circumstances trigger and collapse arms races in animals and humans. (similarity 0.86)
• Specific conditions are required before weapons escalate into an arms race (similarity 0.86)
• Fortification-artillery escalation mirrors predator-prey arms races, not rival contests (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval combat structured even battlefield clashes as ritualized one-on-one duels (similarity 0.85)
• Symmetrical one-on-one fights are a neglected prerequisite for weapon arms races (similarity 0.85)
• The evolutionary drivers of animal weapons also explain human weapon elaboration. (similarity 0.85)
• Weapons work primarily as deterrents that prevent fights rather than win them (similarity 0.85)
• Comparisons of animal and human weapons have a long scholarly tradition. (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Concentrating simultaneous fire disfavors large weapons while duels favor them #expands (0.75)
• One-on-one duels favor weapon evolution while chaotic scrambles do not. #corroborates (0.75) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 245
• Burrow-guarding constrains fights to duels and drives weapon evolution #expands (0.70)
• The evolutionary drivers of animal weapons also explain human weapon elaboration. #expands (0.70) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 7
• Symmetrical one-on-one fights are a neglected prerequisite for weapon arms races #corroborates (0.70) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 226
• Excess rival males over scarce fertile females drove knightly combat in medieval Europe #exemplifies (0.65) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 169
• Human fortifications and artillery evolve via the same arms-race logic as animal weapons #expands (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 525
• Human and animal arms races follow parallel evolutionary dynamics #expands (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 463