Watch it, fella, I'm endangered!

I knew I was special. Maddie still has that little streak of red coming from the top of her multi-calic head, a remnant from the reddish mop top she had as a newborn. Little Sis D, are you going to carry on this banner of Irish pride? (Side note: nobody is Irish in this family. But I assume the persona because it's easier than explaining that your great-grandfather may or may not have had red hair but he went bald at 19 so nobody knows.) Carrot tops unite! We're being bred out of existence!

Redheads going extinct?

by Jonathon Morgan (Subscribe to Jonathon Morgan's posts) Aug 23rd 2007 4:03PM

Categories: Media

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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.