Very neat, Olive! :)  You're right, the CB isn't doing so good lately. I think people just aren't posting because they haven't found any threads they find interesting enough to post on... Well, then, do what Olive's doing and MAKE threads!!! :P

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This is great! I love it! I'd be very interested in reading the rest of the fanfic. Some critique:

1. Homo Sapiens by itself also describes ancient races like Neanderthals that we know nothing about. To specifically describe modern humans, a subspecies, there's a slightly more specific scientific name, Homo sapiens sapiens. I don't know whether it was thought of by Linnaeus, so you'll have to check that, but I think it might be more accurate, because we don't know enough about other human subspecies to make assumptions about their instincts. They almost definitely had an instinct to survive because every vertebrate I know of does, and I expect they probably had an instinct to protect, but just in case...

2. I think 'fascinating' or 'interesting' might be a better word than 'odd,' because it's not unusual at all. Even if there is little variation between members of a species in that area, it's quite common for them both to be present. Also, I wouldn't call them completely oppoite, because sometimes they're not; they can even want the same thing; cooperation does happen a lot in nature. Maybe you could say 'conflicting' instead?

3. Does it tend to be the same for all members of a given species? That's interesting; I'd never read whether it did or not. Where did you read about it? It seems to me that it would be a bit hard to determine. I've always gotten the impression that while there were distinct patterns, was also quite a bit of variation. All alligators, for example, are vvery protective mothers, but some are more so than others. There is always variation within a species; it's just that we notice it more in our own because that's what our senses convince us to pay attention to. Lobsters can recognize other lobsteres, and I'm sure they pick things up that we don't, but they'd be hard-pressed to identify a human. I'm just pointing out my opinion because I can tell you're trying to sound informitive, definitive, and unbiased, and while you're doing a very good job at it, I thought this might help.

4. The 4 types of social behavior might also help. Ethologists (scientists who study how animals behave in the wild; I've dreamed of being one since I was 8, so I know these sorts of basic things about it) recognize the following categories for things animals do that affect another oranism in adittion to itselfl:

I. Cooperation, when their instincts to survive and protect work together and do something that increases the fitness of both that animal and at least one other organism

II. Altruism, where the instinct to protect overrides the instinct of survival, and one animal helps another at its own expense

III. Egoism, selfishness

IV. What they call Revenge, although it really isn't and doesn't always have anything to do with it at all. It really ought to be called malice instead. Anyway, it's when you intentionally do something that is detrimental to yourself and the organism you deliberately affect (side effects don't count).

I don't know if you'll want to mention them, but I thought they were somewhat relevant and might provoke thought.

Interesting. Yes, I can see that you are being religion-neutral. Probably for the purposes of including it in the story. Lovely observations. :) (I'm a Christian too.)