Redheads going extinct?
Categories: Media
Though you probably wouldn't know it by looking at me, there's a few redheads in my family tree. So it was possible that my child couldn've been born with red hair (and, to be honest, that's kind of what I was hoping for).
But my daughter wasn't born a redhead, and, odds are, her children won't be either. In fact, according to scientists, neither will anybody's children. The most recent issue of National Geographic magazine reveals that, because of global intermingling, redheaded people are less likely to meet, partner off, and produce little redheaded children.
When you think about it, I suppose this isn't very surprising. Less than 2% of the world's population have natural red hair, and, because the gene that produces red hair is recessive (if you remember your high school biology), both partners need to have ginger-haired ancestors just to make having a redheaded child possible (but even then, it's still unlikely).
So, how long do the redheads have before this genetic mutation is officially extinct? The earliest estimates say that they could be completely gone as early as 2060. Meaning, that it's possible that my great-grand-kids will be born into a world without redheads.
Weird.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jen 8-23-2007 @ 4:12PM
I'm a natural redhead. I have 3 children and had hoped that at least one of them would have red hair as well. None of them do. The 2 oldest have a reddish tint to their hair but that's it. Maybe we'll have a redhead with number 4! lol I've heard that redheads are going extinct before so it's not a big surprise to me
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Southerncharm 8-23-2007 @ 4:23PM
I'm a natural red head, but my two boys have brownish-blonde hair like their dad. I was actually glad my kid did NOT have red hair. I was teased immensely as a child and it was pure torture, BUT as an adult I have many compliments. I guess growing up it's been a love-hate relationship with my hair color.
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tuliptoe 8-23-2007 @ 6:59PM
I would be a little wary of this story as it sounds just like a common rumor that surfaces from time to time about blonds. It uses the same statistics and I went to the National Geographic site (quoted in the article) and there was no mention of this there. I popped a question in to Snopes.com since I didn't have time to further research it.
I'm a bottle redhead so at least we'll represent for the haircolour!
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Ethel 8-23-2007 @ 7:04PM
Well, this is a fallacy. Yes we have global mixing but what really is strange and is driving this is that redheads have a tendency to assortative mating - that is redheads marry other redheads far less often then if it were random. In addition, redheads tend to actually choose non-redheads preferentially. While there are plenty of red heads out there who have mated with another red head, that is not the trend.
Which is too bad, I really like redheads. BUT! Due to the math of genetics, where p^2+ q^2=1 (genetics) the chance of q (being the gene for redheadishness) is never ever going to be extinct (do enough population models and you'll see it to be true). The same way that we retain sickle cell anemia even though its deleterious to be homozygous recessive, it will be retained even at very low levels of retention in a population. Take that Dr. Schwaergerle! I told you your class was AWESOME!
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Jenna 8-23-2007 @ 9:53PM
Here's hoping the children that my brother (medium/light brown) and his fiancee (RED) make will have red hair. If not, we have a cousin to base the rest of the redheaded population on as well.
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Katheryn 8-23-2007 @ 10:33PM
My husband has red hair and I have dark brown. We have two children and they both have red hair.
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SKL 8-23-2007 @ 11:32PM
Well, didn't those same scientists predict that we are all going to die of starvation caused by overpopulation and global warming before 2060 anyway?
I know lots of redheads who don't have a redheaded parent.
But more convincing for me is the fact that blue eyes, which are also recessive, show no signs of going extinct.
I hope my tax money didn't fund this meaningless study. I mean, biodiversity is nice, but aren't there more important issues to resolve?
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Shannon 8-29-2007 @ 1:46AM
The explosion of this subject is driving me batty!!! OK people here we go... A couple of years ago this urban myth/rumor was making it's way around the net and even some "respected publications" repeated it. There was one minor difference ... it was/is blondes that were/are going extinct.
Yes, red hair is a recessive treat, BUT, it like most things involving the expression of genetic treats it is NOT that simple. Hair color, along with eye color and a myriad of other human/mammalian treats is presented as a simple "2 gene" genetic model. It's not! It's actually more involved than that. It entails pigment receptors, incomplete dominance relating to allele variants, and probably other genes on different chromosomes. The juries still out on how all the mechanics works in the first place!
While it maybe true that only 2-4% of the total human population carries the requisite recessive gene(s), if you split the difference, 3% means that nearly 200,000,000 people are carriers. ALSO the 2-4% is a population average as a whole. It doesn't apply to those of Celtic (and to a lesser extent) Teutonic descent. In Scotland 13% of the population has red hair and approx. 45% carries the gene(s). Ireland ranks 2nd with about 10% of the population redheads and 35% carriers. And the "Vikings" Norsemen have been known to have a ginger head/beard or 2.
I personally think my niece is much more like to be the future of redheads. My golden blond, battleship gray eyed 3/4 Celtic, 1/4 German sister, and my African/American brother-in-law produced a creamy cafe au lait skinned, light amber eyed little girl with a head of long, thick, wavy, rich auburn hair. I know I'm biased, but I have watched, from a distanced, how strangers respond to her. Almost every person that sees her does a double take and them smiles. People will go out of their way to tell her or who ever is with her, how absolutely striking she is.
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Melissa 9-07-2007 @ 1:15PM
This was researched by National Geographic so I tend to believe that it is possible and can see it happening eventually, but it is hard to believe it will happen within 100 years. I would like to say that i am the only one in my family with red hair (it's natural). I am not adopted or anything. A great grandfather may have had it on one side, but we have no idea where it came from on the other side.
And to tuliptoe, bottle redheads are nothing close to the real thing so please don't say that you will represent us in the future.
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