Consider a population of killer whales. The gene pool of this population would only contain alleles harboring beneficial or neutral mutations, as deleterious mutations are efficiently eliminated from the gene pool of a species.

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While deleterious mutations are indeed eliminated from the gene pool of a species, they can still persist at low frequencies through various mechanisms such as genetic drift or heterozygote advantage. Therefore, the gene pool of a population can contain alleles harboring deleterious mutations in addition to beneficial or neutral ones.

Consider a Population of Killer Whales