How does nature prevent incest and therefore inbreeding in animals? Without social conditioning, what happens to discourage (if not prevent) this?
• In nature, inbreeding is not always undesirable or prevented. Intensive inbreeding can in certain cases purge harmful recessive genes from a population, while ensuring that essential genes are passed on. In a sparse population, it can ensure a mate. In its most extreme form, some plants self-pollinate so intensively that outcrosses are exceptional. Conversely, many plants separate pollen production from stigma ripening to reduce self-pollination, either by wind or by pollinators. Others, such as almonds, are self-sterile, having…
