Final answer:
Inbreeding refers to the mating of animals that share a distant ancestor, which can increase the likelihood of harmful genetic effects and reduce fitness of the offspring. This is different from selective breeding, which is a deliberate effort to pair animals with desired traits to produce improved offspring.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term used when animals that share a distant ancestor are mated together is C) Inbreeding. Inbreeding occurs when closely related individuals mate with each other, which can lead to offspring that are often less fit than those of two unrelated individuals.
There are concerns with inbreeding because it can bring together rare, deleterious mutations, leading to harmful phenotypes. Furthermore, inbreeding can reduce genetic diversity within a population, limiting the availability of beneficial traits that may arise from outcrossing. In contrast, selective breeding is a practice where breeders choose specific animals with desirable traits to mate in order to produce offspring with those traits. It is anthropogenic, meaning it is driven by human activity, and differs significantly from inbreeding.
In the context of producing hybrids, the reproductive combination that produces hybrids is when members of closely related species reproduce. This can sometimes result in hybrid offspring that are more fit than the parents, potentially leading to a blending of both species into one over time.