The phenomenon of ethnicity in humans, however, is not in principle
different from the phenomenon of boundary maintenance between animal
societies. Other animals maintain clear boundaries between themselves and
other species, most importantly barriers to matings between closely related
species that are the very mechanism making for speciation in the first instance
(Mayr, 1 963). But humans are not even unique in maintaining societal
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boundaries within the species. Thousands of species of eusocial insects keep
different colonies of the same species quite distinct from each other, often
using pheromones (smell signals] to recognize each other (E. 0. Wilson,
1971 ]. Among mammals, man included, the boundaries between societies
are, on the whole much Jess rigid than among the eusocial insects but
nevertheless, societal boundaries between groups of conspecifics are clearly
marked and defended.