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[–] GrislyAtoms ago 

I was just being stupid, but that is actually kind of interesting (the part about the red x), if horrible of the sailors. I guess it was in the name of science?

It's probably the same for many other animals. I don't know if they would be so hostile as to kill any that don't fit in, like your story claims the albatross's did (I guess it depends on the animal?), but I'm sure it would at least affect the outcast's breeding chances.

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[–] stretched_girl ago 

Science, no, but the activity was noted by naturalists of the time.

Life for sailors was not a picnic. They were products of their era.

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[–] Broc_Lia ago 

Alot of species do it, a specific feature delicately based on one or two gene expressions is singled out as a basis for attraction. As a result, an animal with developmental issues will probably have divergent features, such as losing their blue pigment. Kinda like a red flag.

For humans facial charactaristics are key, we can tell male from female just from seeing a part of someone's jaw and women have been shown to be able to assess the health of a man just by seeing the triangle of his cheek. Serious disorders like down's syndrome are immediately apparent.

Nature is hard on mutants, lol.