>>>Talking of altruism only makes sense for beings who can communicate their motives to us, humans.

I don't believe altruism is a virtue that can be attibuted only to those whom we understand. Why would you think so, wsieber? Since we cannot communicate with animals why do there actions become null. They could just as well be altruism as not - so what makes it automatically impossible.

There are many things we understand now, that we did not 1000 years ago. Were they any less true then?