Unfamiliar fish:
By and large, of course animal populations will attempt to mate with animals that are kin. But there are exceptions. (Kimberly A. Hughes et al. Mating Advantage for Rarer Males in Wild Guppy Populations NATURE vol. 503 no. 7474 November 7, 2013 page 108) Sometimes the least familiar male has a strong appeal. This of course is obvious among humans. But if it’s true of guppies as well as humans, it has to be a general principle. It makes sense. The best mating strategy must hold a balance between a population size that is too large, risking extinction, and a population that is too exclusive, risking a significant and destructive loss of genetic diversity.
So assuming that an exclusive mating strategy has evolved then there is an advantage for the rare violation of the rules. There. I’ve said it. It seems to me that we are so far to one side of the ideal range as humans that disaster looms. But I must confess that there is indeed another side.
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