Does inbreeding occurs among big cats ?
A. Inbreeding (mating with close relatives) is bad news as far as Nature goes, because it weakens the gene pool. The whole purpose of sex is to mix different genes around so they meet other genes with different material, like people at a rather good party. This semi-random mixing around defeats things such as viruses, which must “lock” onto specific cell membranes to do their nasty work – if genetic mixing, produced by sex, alters cell membranes at random, the naughty viruses can’t get in. It’s like getting home to find someone’s changed the lock on the door. That’s why we have sex – to mix different genes around to defeat viruses. But if an animal (or plant for that matter) mates with a relative, which has almost identical genes, the mixing doesn’t introduce any fresh new genes. So nature takes extraordinary measures to stop animals breeding with their relatives. Some insects reach sexual maturity at different ages depending on whether they’re male or female, so brothers can’t mate si
