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Mechanisms of Inbreeding Avoidance in Nonhuman Primates

  • Chapter
Pedophilia

Abstract

Anthropologists have long noted that there is a universal tendency for humans to avoid and to prohibit sexual activity between various categories of relatives. This universal phenomenon of incest avoidance was regarded by some as a uniquely human characteristic that sets humans apart from animals. Recently, however, it has become clear that many animals also avoid mating with their close relatives, and several anthropologists have pointed to a biological basis for human incest taboos (e.g., Bischof, 197S; van den Berghe, 1982; Durham, in press). In this chapter, this author reviews the evidence that nonhuman primates avoid mating with their relatives and almost never breed with them. “Inbreeding” is used as a general term to describe breeding with consanguineous relatives. Close inbreeding is defined as “mating and breeding with first-degree relatives such as parents or siblings” and is synonymous with incest as it is defined in this volume.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Behavioral Biology, University of Minnesota, 55455, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Anne Pusey

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  1. Anne Pusey
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico, 87112, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Jay R. Feierman

  2. Department of Behavioral Medicine, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, 87112, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Jay R. Feierman

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Pusey, A. (1990). Mechanisms of Inbreeding Avoidance in Nonhuman Primates. In: Feierman, J.R. (eds) Pedophilia. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9682-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9682-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-9684-0

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