What happens to lions that inbreed? Do they end up deformed?

Question

What happens to lions that inbreed? Do they end up deformed?

Answer 1

It's a possibility, as with inbreeding in any animal, but it would be unlikely to occur in a first-generation inbred - that is, if a brother and sister mated, their young would be unlikely to be deformed, but if those young bred with each other the likelihood would be increased. When closely related individuals breed, there is more likelihood of their 'bad' genes being passed on to the offspring and being dominant, since both parents are more likely to possess the same ones than in unrelated parents. A greater risk from inbreeding is the reduced immune system, which results in the population being less able to cope with an outbreak of disease.

Most wild animals have social systems that minimize inbreeding for these reasons. In lions, males leave the pride they were born into when they reach sexual maturity, so there is no chance of them breeding with their mothers, sisters and aunts. Females stay with the pride they were born into, and in their case inbreeding is avoided by the fact that males generally only hold a pride for between two and three years - by the time a male's daughters reach sexual maturity, he is likely to have been overthrown and replaced by new males.

Answer 2

This kind of thing can happen to any group of organism that turns to inbreeding.  If it occurs over a long time, it leads to a high frequency of dominant alleles in the future generations, which doesn't always lead right away into physical deformation, but it does increase the chances for weak immune systems, mental illness, and other genetic-based disorders like some cancers.  Populations obviously try to introduce as much genetic variability into the gene pool in order to minimize these chances.

Answer 3

im not sure.....but i would guess they do it in the wild........since the male born  are usually cast out of the pride at around 18 months old and the females stay.