Are we altruistic?

In my opinion, we may be some of the least altruistic beings in the planet. Since we are "smarter", we know when we're taking risks and when we're not, while animals just do things by instincs, or at least some animals, like bees. Richard Dawkins places the bee as the most altruistic being in the planet, but the bee really does the stinging as self-defense and in defense of the colony, but by instinct only. The bee doesn't really know it will die, and it doesn't know that it is going to help the colony with its sting. Its brains tells it "Do it", and the bee will proceed to do it. Instead, since we have reason, we know when we might be taking risks, and when we're being "heroic".In movies, we see men being "Heroic" all the time, but is dying for someone else really "Heroic"? When someone we really love dies, we will suffer, and sometimes we are willing to give our lifes so that the other person lives. I am sure that if a mother was given a choice, she would rather die than see her kids dying, but I cannot be sure if it is really for love or just because she wants to transfer the suffering of seeing a loved one to the kids. You don't suffer if you die. People who love you are really the ones who suffer. The mother might be thinking deep inside:"Well, I won't see my kids dying so I won't suffer, and I won't suffer if I die either. Instead, my kids will see me dying and suffer, and they will have to carry with that burden all their life". Which is better for the mother? Of course the mother most likely doesn't think of it that way but she's avoiding her suffering by causing suffering to her kids or her loved ones. This is a rather disturbing thought, but it may be real. Instead, we can see people in situations (like war, for example) in which they fight to defend their country (or colony). In this scenario, they are putting the interests of the country before their own self-interests, causing less suffering to the whole country. Of course we could also think of it in the other way. They may be avoiding the tragedy of seeing their families die by avoiding the threat of war to get to them. They could be avoiding their own suffering. Therefore, although I think humanity can be altruistic sometimes, in general I think it is not very common. People actually try to place their families before them, but only because they want to avoid the suffering it would cause to see them in danger or harmed.