So in other words, don't marry your sibling and if you want to
fourth, fifth, or even more cousin, genetically, there's
nothing to worry about. Now, if you have any questions about
marrying your cousin, put it in the comments below. Make sure
both of you would need to have that recessive gene on that
you give us a thumbs up and tell your friends if you like
shared portion of DNA. For comparison, siblings having
their parents now because you share 12 and a/ 2 percent of
And then we get into a what if game. Because of recombination
happen. If you're looking at marrying a second, third,
your children may get zero of the recessive genes that you
lies somewhere between 0% and 12 and a/ 2 percent because
effects in getting these recessive genes that could be
shared portion of DNA and then both of you would have to pass
on the recessive gene rather than the good gene from that
defects. As with most things DNA without knowing any
going to marry. That twelve and a half percent came from one
your DNA the probability of getting two recessive genes
parents were carriers and have that same recessive gene from
parent for both of you and those parents were siblings.
and your cousin spouse's parents had they may get one
children would have a much higher instance of both birth
copy of a recessive gene or they may get two copies of a
to air pollution during that pregnancy but it's also means
12 and a half percent of your DNA with the cousin that you're
specifics, think of it as a game of statistics. You shared
alcohol or smoking while you're pregnant or even being exposed
two carriers have children, then there is the possibility
been shown is that cousins who marry actually have an
have red hair because I'm not even a carrier of the gene but
detrimental. Their probability would lie between 0% and 50%.
children could have red hair if their spouses also had that red
marry your cousin, bad things probably aren't going to
of their children having red hair. So, my children can't
her. All three of my brothers did but I got left out. Now, if
since my brothers are all carriers of the gene, their
the amount of birth defects they have and in fact, what has
recessive gene it all depends on whether or not both of your
mother's son, I didn't get that copy of the red hair gene from
increased rate of birth defects in their children. It goes from
that gene but you won't have red hair. For instance, my
father had red hair. So, he had two copies and had to have
that 96% of children born to cousins don't have any birth
2% to about 4percent but there's also lots of other
mother is a carrier of the red hair gene. That's because her
factors that can affect whether or not you're going to have
birth defects. Some of the most common ones are consumption of
hair gene. Now, there have been a lot of studies of cousins and
example that I've talked about in videos before is red hair.
passed one of those copies to her but me, even though I am my
whether we marry somebody that we're completely unrelated to.
certain recessive detrimental genes. Recessive genes are not
expressed unless you get two copies of that gene. A simple
not much difference between whether we marry a cousin or
hair gene but you can still be a carrier and have one copy of
continued to marry within that group. From an evolutionary
If you have red hair, then you have two copies of that red
your DNA when your tree doesn't branch because your group
your cousin is more of a modern invention. So, what happens to
It doesn't matter. Where problems can occur is with
been between first or second cousins. So really not marrying
standpoint, marrying somebody not related to you introduces
genetic diversity. Now, for the majority of our genes, there's
zero percent of all marriages throughout human history have
first cousins or even second cousins marrying each other.
theirs. Even US President Martin Van Buren and Vice
President John C. Calhoun married one of their close
cousins. In fact it's estimated that 80 percent eighty eight
because those groups were so small, it necessitated marrying
Darwin all married either a first or second cousin of
There's a lot of famous people who actually married their
cousins. Rudy Giuliani Albert Einstein, HG Wells, and Charles
forbidden but for the most part, there was no taboo to
relatives of ours. Now, usually, sibling pairing was
hundred people and we married within those groups. Now,
their family trees start to branch out but when you have
What I want to talk about is how that affects our DNA and
start to collapse in on themselves. For most of human
history, we lived in rather isolated groups of a few
cousins marrying cousin, those trees don't branch but they
segment of DNA. Be sure to subscribe to our channel and
what we would see when that shows up. For many people,
Now, I'm not saying you should go out and marry your cousin.
episodes. Today, we are talking about marrying your cousin.
Howdy, I'm Andy Lee with Family History Fanatics and this is a
living right now. So, is marrying your cousin really
history, cousins have been marrying cousin and humans seem
click on the bell if you want to be notified about new
that bad? to be going strong with more than 7 billion individuals
In today's modern cultures, marrying your cousin usually
has some negative connotations but for almost all of human
this video.