How do animals know not to breed with their siblings/family members?

562 views

How do animals know not to breed with their siblings/family members?

In: Biology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

In many animal species, sense of smell plays a role here. It is theorized that the smell receptors for sexual pheromones react unfavorably to close relatives’ pheromones. This is also a reason why there are dating shows where the candidates first get a chance to “smell each other” before being actually introduced.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They don’t. If they live in a pack setting then there is normally a hierarchy so the alpha male is the one that gets to mate. If they are solitary then they won’t stick around in the same area.
I had to get my boy cat neutered early because he kept trying to get it on with his sister.