Survival of the fittest

When Ayn Rand wrote her book about Atlas discussing our economic system, the greediest among us was convinced that survival was a case of dog eat dog and just plain step on anyone in your way to reach success. That's what our system has come down to but that is not what evolution explains as survival of the fittest.
If an animal needs a hidey hole to make a nest for its young, it uses whatever is at hand. If a tunnel in the ground is unavailable, a burrowing owl will accept a buried length of plastic pipe. In lieu of a hollow tree, a raccoon will look happily at an abandoned chimney.
I know of one homeowner who spent several years observing a raccoon raising her families in the unused chimney. One year a flying squirrel also looked it over. After what seemed to be a vacation from the animals, an unwelcome odor persisted. The chimney appeared to be the source. Upon close examination a dead animal was found and with great effort, removed.
Obviously there were no offspring that year.
Naomi Sherer