Three comments (basically agreeing with Dan): Yes, random theory would show that _someone_ would end up with a large number of descendants. It would also show that it would very likely be somebody with a lot of offspring. Second, "Genghis Khan or his brothers" means that his _parents_ are the ones from whom 5% of the population derives. Third, without working out the numbers, I don't think it has been long enough since Genghis' time for it to be likely that anybody living at that time is the ancestor of 5% of the world's population. Franklin T. Adams-Watters -----Original Message----- From: dasimov@earthlink.net Henry wrote: << Do a Google search on Genghis Khan. Recent results claim that 5% of the world's population derives from him or his brothers. (The media claim that this is due to his large sexual appetite; while this probably helped, the truth is that random theory would show that _someone_ would end up with a large number of descendants.

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Right. That's totally plausible. The fact the Genghis Khan was both the most powerful and well-traveled person of his era just "probably helped". But mainly it's just a coincidence. Right. --Dan