Inbreeding in Animals

[Hapa_Haole]

Can a biologist/geneticist/anyone smarter than me enlighten me on why inbreeding doesn't affect animals the same way it does humans? Every time I hear the phrase "breed it back to a parent" I get a hiccup in my stomach although I know it isn't a bad thing (and has produced many of the beautiful morphs we see today). So why are their dire consequences when humans do it and not animals?

[Patrick Long]

Snakes have a very simple genetic make up. Unlike Humans or Dogs, we can successfully In-breed up like 12 gens I think I read somewhere. (dont quote me)

Personally.....I will not go more than 2 generations of in-breeding. Given Im not proving any genetic traits, where more than 2 generations are sometimes needed.

[Hapa_Haole]

Can you venture a guess at why simpler genomes make it possible? It seems to me that an animal with fewer chromosomes would experience worse side affects from a screwed up chromosome/gene.

[Patrick Long]

The way that I see, is that the genomes, are a more simplified genome. Its not as complex like said human.

Lets call them letters for a second....

If a human genome has A B C D E F & G

And snake genome has A B C

You have less of a chance to get a genetic defect, because of the simplicity.


Who knows. I could be totally off base here, but this is ow it makes sense in my head.

[Hapa_Haole]

Thanks for the input.

Is there anyone out there with any more ideas?

[LGL]

Sean Niland over at VMS Herp has a good article on inbreeding: http://www.vmsherp.com/LCInbreeding.htm

[TimmyG]

Two reasons, morality and recessive genes
Morality - Humans have higher functioning than animals and we have deemed this practice wrong whereas animals only want to get their rocks off and dont care who the recipent is. However, if you look at royal families such as Egyptians or the Royal Family (England), their histories are ripe with inbreeding as it is thought to preserve desirable traits.

Recessive genes - inbreeding can be bad for both humans and animals if there are recessive genes in the gene pool which cause something undesirable. for example pretend little a is bad (a) Mom (Aa) and dad (AA) have some kids (AA, AA, Aa, and Aa). if mom or any of the heterozygous kiddies "mingle" you end up with (AaXAa = AA, Aa, Aa, and aa). aa has webbed toes and an under bite. But if its a good trait like albino than you want to do this. so really at a genetic level inbreeding is ok for both so long as no ones a carrier (Aa) or has (aa) a genetic disease (hemophilia).

[Bruce Whitehead]

Inbred humans... is a pejorative term that is very value-laden and frought with moral qualifiers.

We see issues with small human gene pools if a destructive trait gets concentrated.

Take a few humans that lack those, let them breed a few generations... breed the kids back to the parents... *meh*...

Bruce

[Hapa_Haole]

Take a few humans that lack those, let them breed a few generations... breed the kids back to the parents... *meh*...

I guess that makes a completely good point besides the absolute unmorality of it. But as human beings we've always treated other animals differently than our own so "meh"...

[scotty99]

What do you mean inbreeding in humans has side effects???? ..I will ring my mum who is also my sister, using my very useful third hand while I'm typing this with my 2 free hands to ask his opinion on the subject

Seriously though, breeding back to the parents etc does leave me feeling a bit uneasy (not that I've done it yet). I know they are snakes and not people, and plenty of people have line bred, but it's ...u know inbreeding non the less.

Does inbreeding happen/has happened in the wild?