The debate about altruism lacks adult judgements. Any supposedly altruistic response should be judged by the latency of the response, by the number of bystanders, by the genetic relatedness between the altruist and the beneficiary, and by the amount of social contact between the altruist and the beneficiary and between the altruist and any bystander, both before and after the response: any social contact before the response should be reviewed for evidence of conditioning of the altruist.

It is “not uncommon” for initially anonymous altruists to reveal their actions later. Initial anonymity means that the altruist is in complete control of the timing of any denouement.

‘Pyow’ calls in monkeys have predicted both the threat of predation and the identity of the caller, which raises doubts about the altruistic interpretation of alarm calls.