SERVIÇO PÚBLICO: o DNA do grande Khan anda por aí

Por falar em ascensão e queda, ainda falta muito para a invasão dos novos bárbaros?

«Successful male gene lines, though, can be very successful indeed. Students of animal behaviour refer to the top male in a group as the “alpha”. Such dominant animals keep the others under control and father a large proportion, if not all, of the group's offspring. One of the curiosities of modern life is that voters tend to elect alpha males to high office, and then affect surprise when they behave like alphas outside politics too. But in the days when alphas had to fight rather than scheme their way to the top, they tended to enjoy the sexual spoils more openly. And there were few males more alpha in their behaviour than Genghis Khan, a man reported to have had about 500 wives and concubines, not to mention the sexual opportunities that come with conquest. It is probably no coincidence, therefore, that one man in every 12 of those who live within the frontiers of what was once the Mongol empire (and, indeed, one in 200 of all men alive today) have a stretch of DNA on their Y-chromosomes that dates back to the time and birthplace of the great Khan.»

(The long march of everyman, Survey: Human Evolution, The Economist)