Why Does Inbreeding Cause Genetic Problems? They receive one copy of the gene from each parent. Animals that are closely related are more likely to carry a copy of the same recessive gene. This increases the risk they will both pass a copy of the gene onto their offspring. Does inbreeding cause genetic disorders? Inbreeding
Why Do Animals Avoid Inbreeding? Inbreeding avoidance mechanisms have evolved in response to selection against inbred offspring. Inbreeding avoidance occurs in nature by at least four mechanisms: kin recognition, dispersal, extra-pair/extra-group copulations, and delayed maturation/reproductive suppression. Do any animals avoid inbreeding? A new meta-analysis in Nature Ecology & Evolution has found that on the whole,