What term describes mating two animals that are more closely related than average?

What term describes mating two animals that are more closely related than average?

• A. Crossbreeding
• B. Inbreeding
• C. Outbreeding
• D. Linebreeding

Answer: (B)

Inbreeding is mating two animals that are more closely related than the average population. When relatives pair up, offspring inherit more identical genes from both parents, which increases homozygosity across their genome. This can help fix certain traits but also raises the chance of expressing recessive genetic disorders. Crossbreeding and outbreeding describe mating between more distant or different genetic backgrounds to increase diversity, while linebreeding is a targeted, milder form of inbreeding aimed at keeping ancestry within a lineage. Inbreeding is the term that directly describes the situation of relatives mating more closely than the general population.

Inbreeding is mating two animals that are more closely related than the average population. When relatives pair up, offspring inherit more identical genes from both parents, which increases homozygosity across their genome. This can help fix certain traits but also raises the chance of expressing recessive genetic disorders. Crossbreeding and outbreeding describe mating between more distant or different genetic backgrounds to increase diversity, while linebreeding is a targeted, milder form of inbreeding aimed at keeping ancestry within a lineage. Inbreeding is the term that directly describes the situation of relatives mating more closely than the general population.