# Incest and animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 1, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215 "2011-10-01T01:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/21 "2011-10-01T22:35:09Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > How does fertilization happen without intercourse? Do they just crank out male offspring constantly? Parthenogenesis is actually surprisingly common in lizards. It’s particularly common in the Whiptail family, where there’s a handful of species that only reproduce parthenogenically. (A few of them do engage in mating behaviour - IIRC, only the one in the female role produces viable eggs that season.) ---
**Author:** ![ModernPrimate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@ModernPrimate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ModernPrimate)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/22 "2011-10-01T23:10:43Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Interesting. I wonder if the opposite is true. Let’s say that you had a secret sister that your parents gave up for adoption when she was young. Would that guy (assuming they met under random circumstances later in life) have a sexual attraction towards her, or would there be some “magic,” if you will, inside him that would tell him that was his sister and that she was off limits.. Some theorize that if someone looks very like you, that you will avoid mating with them for this reason. There have been many sorts of experiments on it. And this could be the reason that people of a different race are often seen as more attractive. Other primates also hugely avoid incest. The people who said it’s all human morality have no idea what they’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/23 "2011-10-02T00:30:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > … > As for the limbs, well we have the tools, why not use them? Dogs have no such advantage, so must use their noses and stick their face in each others’ genitalia… Oh wait, humans do \*THAT \*too. > … Sit on my face And tell me that you love me I’ll sit on your face And tell you I love you I love it when you oralize When you’re between my thighs You blow me away You blow me away (a popular song at parties when I was at school) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/24 "2011-10-02T01:18:50Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Actually, that brings up another interesting variation. Some monkeys and apes will masturbate, I understand - thus suggesting they get pleasure from the activity. The reason humans use their forelimbs on others is to provide sexual pleasure for partner(s) outside of regular intercourse. Any examples of this “sensitive new age man” behaviour in the wild kingdom? [The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/465/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-gay-animal) (briefly) to attest to the existence of not just mutual masturbation but also oral sex among non-human primates. Exhibit A: gorilla going down on girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/25 "2011-10-02T01:50:46Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > No magic, I’m afraid- I’ll try and find the research I read, but basically people tend to be attracted to folks similar to those they grew up with, just not the _same_ people. Which has an unfortunate side effect that people are generally quite likely to be attracted to ‘lost’ family members. The phenomenon is known as [Genetic Sexual Attraction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction). That does not seem to mean “genetic” in the sense we commonly use the word (encoded in DNA), but rather that that to which Person A is attracted in Person B may be actually a product of their common origin (genesis) either physically or environmentally. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/26 "2011-10-02T01:51:29Z")
I can tell you that pigeons certainly do practice incest. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/27 "2011-10-02T07:19:12Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Sit on my face > And tell me that you love me > I’ll sit on your face > And tell you I love you > > I love it when you oralize > When you’re between my thighs > You blow me away > You blow me away > > (a popular song at parties when I was at school) From Monty Python’s “Contractual Obligation Album”. Right up there with “Medical Love Song” about every possible social disease… _I’m dying from your love my dear At least we both were lying when we said that we were cured.._ Plus “Decomposing Composers” _They’re decomposing composers, There’s less of them every day, You can still hear Beethoven, But there’s not much of him left to play…_ Ah, the memories. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/28 "2011-10-02T09:12:55Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > No magic, I’m afraid- I’ll try and find the research I read, but basically people tend to be attracted to folks similar to those they grew up with, just not the _same_ people. Which has an unfortunate side effect that people are generally quite likely to be attracted to ‘lost’ family members. The tendency to feel no attraction to those you’re brought up with is known as the [Westermarck Effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect). > > A lot of animals do inbreed, though a lot of species do have various mechanisms in place to reduce this. Male chimps seem to show a marked tendency to avoid mating with their mother, and I think female siblings- it has been observed in a number of primate species. Other animals who don’t show this behaviour, as has been said above, have a society where all ‘spare’ males (or females) leave the group- or only one dominant pair are allowed to breed. Huh. This is odd, because, while we are most attracted to people who look the like us, we are also most attracted to people who smell unlike us. At least, women are if they aren’t on birth control. In the article where I read this, this was hypothesized to be the incest taboo, but that doesn’t line up with the idea that biological siblings who have never met usually being attracted to one another. Unless, of course, the tests were only dealing with visual attractiveness, and not overall success of relationships. (I would expect the estranged siblings to break up more quickly.) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/29 "2011-10-02T09:14:42Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Right up there with “Medical Love Song” about every possible social disease… > _I’m dying from your love my dear > At least we both were lying when we said that we were cured.._ “Inflammation of the foreskin, reminds me of your smile…” LOL ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/30 "2011-10-02T10:43:14Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Interesting. I wonder if the opposite is true. Let’s say that you had a secret sister that your parents gave up for adoption when she was young. Would that guy (assuming they met under random circumstances later in life) have a sexual attraction towards her, or would there be some “magic,” if you will, inside him that would tell him that was his sister and that she was off limits.. I seem to recall reading a story in a British tabloid about a brother and sister relationship that happened along those very lines. (Sorry, don’t have a cite.) IIRC, the brother met and fell in love (lust?) with the sister, without either one knowing that they were related by blood. (Given up for adoption and separated at a very young age and not told that there was a sibling? Again, not sure.) What caused the story to stick in my mind was, the brother and sister, upon being made aware of their genetic relationship said, “So what? We’re in love and that’s all there is to it.” Or something along those lines. Caused a big uproar IIRC, a big enough sensation that it was front page news. (I’ll try my google-fu, later.) ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/31 "2011-10-02T10:49:57Z")
Found it! I think. (SFW) www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-514809/How-fell-love-brother-sister-grew-apart-met-20s.html ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/32 "2011-10-02T18:00:09Z")
Old joke: Woman calls her vet to tell him her female cat has gotten realy fat. Vet comes over, examines the cat and tells the owner “She is pregnant.” Woman: Oh,no, that can’t be. She is an indoor cat, never goes out. There is no way she could be pregnant. Vet notices the woman’s other cat: What about that male cat right over there. Could he have done it? Woman, very haughty: Of course not. That’s her _brother_. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/33 "2011-10-02T21:19:07Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Old joke: Woman calls her vet to tell him her female cat has gotten realy fat. Vet comes over, examines the cat and tells the owner “She is pregnant.” > > Woman: Oh,no, that can’t be. She is an indoor cat, never goes out. There is no way she could be pregnant. > > Vet notices the woman’s other cat: What about that male cat right over there. Could he have done it? > > Woman, very haughty: Of course not. That’s her _brother_. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-h… huh? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/34 "2011-10-02T21:32:02Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Bwa-ha-ha-ha-h… huh? 😕 The woman in the joke, like the OP in this thread only more so, wasn’t clear on the fact that most non-human animals don’t have anything like an incest taboo. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/35 "2011-10-03T00:38:13Z")
```auto ``` > [@Kimstu](#): > > The woman in the joke, like the OP in this thread only more so, wasn’t clear on the fact that most non-human animals don’t have anything like an incest taboo. Ya think? :rolleyes: Whoosh! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/36 "2011-10-03T00:39:24Z")
Oh. You were too subtle for me! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215/37 "2011-10-03T13:08:20Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Oh. You were too subtle for me! 😉 I was just ‘clowning around’ a bit, no offense meant. 😃 For that matter, I might as well go ahead and shame the Devil, and tell the truth! It was actually _yours truly_, that was ‘whooshed’! (Had to read the joke **twice** , before I got it!):smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-and-animals/598215.md?page=1)