Inherited Traits



As most know, especially using now DNA testing, ancestors were from a certain part of the world carried in their genes certain generic traits that could have been inherited by you. Of course, it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to have the same traits common to that region where your ancestors came from. Plus it not just behavioral and physical traits associated with certain parts of the world but even certain attitudes and skills (such as the ability to play music).

Some examples of traits from other parts of the world include: Many Europeans prefer sweet tasting items vs salty. Then those born with red hair tend to be from the northern regions of European nations. Another feature with the northern Europeans are those with freckles because they are the ones more likely to have fair-colored skin.

Eye color, those with the trend of darker colored eyes being more prevalent or more common in people of African or East Asian descent. Then the ones with blue, gray or green eyes tend to inherit that trait from an European background.

Even the physical trait of not being able to digest dairy products (being ‘lactose intolerant’). That trait tends to be concentrated with China and the East Asian region.

A few other interesting traits one might inherit based on where your ancestors originated from include — being right or left-handed (being left-handed is found in some ethnic areas as high as 25%); having an attached earlobe vs an unattached earlobe (the unattached form is the most common across many regions); and being able to roll your tongue and curl up the sides of the tongue to form a tube shape. This trait has been showed to be mainly a European trait.

Also, factor in it the inherited trait coming from the mother’s or father’s side. An example, most who are left-handed inherited it from their mother. Also if the mother has a dominant hair color or texture, that would be inherited by the baby. A person’s height when fully grown comes from a father’s side. If a person has dimples, that is from the father. Then even with everyone having unique fingerprints, fingerprint patterns of a fingerprint between the father and child may not be identical, but extremely similar.

So a few of one’s inherited traits influenced by their parents and where their ancestors originated from, making having DNA testing very interesting in the 21st century.

Photos: Traits such as red hair, being left-handed and types of earlobes.

Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

What is in Your Genes?

Left-Handed

Ancestry.com & DNA

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