“How Rare Are You?”: Woman Shares Random But Interesting Genetic Facts About Humans And Here’re 30 Of The Best Ones
Interview
Human beings are awesome. And the closer you look at them, the more intriguing surprises you’re bound to find. What’s especially interesting are our genes and how they’re expressed. You might not even know it, but your genetics might make you rarer than you might think! Let's have a look at some of these rare traits.
Florida-based video content creator Lexi Slaven, who also goes by her internet pseudonym Yolkfather, has created a whole bunch of videos that are as educational as they are entertaining. In her ‘How rare are you?’ TikTok video series, she examines how rare certain genetic traits really are. Starting from the basics like red hair and blue eyes and moving on to jaw-dropping things like actually being able to sneeze with your eyes open. (Now that’s a superpower we might be interested in if it turns out we can’t actually fly!)
Check out some of Lexi’s most captivating rare facts about human beings and upvote the ones that left you surprised, Pandas. Oh, and we’d love to hear if you’ve got any of these traits or can do anything mentioned in this list. For instance, I’ve got blue eyes and that means that I’m part of barely 8 percent of the entire population of the world with that fact alone!
Bored Panda reached out to Lexi to learn more about her videos and herself as a content creator. Scroll down for the full interview.
More info: TikTok | Instagram | YouTube
@yolkfather How rare are your traits? #greenscreen #foryou #funfacts #learnontiktok #mindblown
♬ original sound - Lexi Slaven
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I was very curious to learn more about the inspiration behind the super popular 'How rare are you?' videos. "My inspiration behind this series was to try to get people to embrace what makes them unique!" Lexi told Bored Panda. "I think it resonated with so many people because I tried to include many different things so that hopefully whoever was watching would be able to find something that they could relate to," she said she was as inclusive as she could be.
Bored Panda was interested to hear a bit about what it's like to have such a large following on TikTok. Lexi opened up that it's been a life-changing experience. "It has changed my life! It still shocks me that there are so many people who love and support me and care about what I have to say. It’s given me confidence in who I am and has made me a better person because I know that I have younger fans who look up to me and I want to be a good role model for them."
35% of the population has no wisdom teeth. And I'm jealous of you guys because you never have to go through the pain.
I have wisdom teeth, but I'm the only person I know who not only has all four of them, but had them come through perfectly straight with no pain. So I'm lucky in a different way I guess. :)
Lexi explained that she followed in the footsteps of her favorite creators and wanted to become a positive role model for others. "When I was younger, I watched a lot of YouTube videos and I had creators that I looked up to. Sometimes if I was having a bad day these videos were like an escape for me and they would cheer me up. I want to be that person for someone else," she said.
"My followers always suggest topics for me to make videos on and I try to listen to them as much as I can!"
Lexi is a force to be reckoned with on TikTok. She has a whopping 2.4 million followers on the platform. Meanwhile, she’s collected just shy of 100 million (that’s right!) likes on TikTok. That just goes to show that the content she creates and her personality shine through in the endless stream of videos on the platform.
The TikToker creates videos about fun facts (that's where her videos about genetic traits come in), does storytimes, shares various theories, and does a bit of everything else.
Heterochromia which means having two different colored eyes is found in less than 1% of the population.
My ex husband was left handed, red headed, and had heterochromia, basically a unicorn....and as we all know unicorns are arseholes!
According to World Atlas, the vast majority of the world’s population has brown eyes. However, it’s incredibly difficult to pinpoint the exact number. The best guess is that anywhere from 70 to 79 percent of human beings have brown eyes. Meanwhile, from 8 to 10 percent of people have blue eyes.
Even rarer than blue eyes are hazel and amber eyes, with around 5 percent of the global population (that’s 1 in 20 people on the street) having them. Gray eyes make up barely 3 percent of the total while green ones make up only 2 percent. The rarest eye color is red/violet, with less than a single percent of people having such eyes. Similarly, less than 1 percent of people have heterochromia which means that both of your eyes are different colors.
20% of the population sneezes when they go outside in the sun.
It's called ACHOO syndrome. Autosomal-dominant Compulsive Helio Opthalmic Outburst syndrome. Someone worked hard on that acronym lol.
Blue eyes, only 8% of the world population.
Really? I know so many people with blue eyes but then I guess the biggest populations are southern hemisphere so it makes sense the blues would be outnumbered.
The field of genetics continues to advance. Even facts that we took for granted (remember those biology lessons back at school) are now being updated and revised. For instance, scientists used to think that your eye color was determined by only two genes, one from each parent. You’re likely to remember doing some exercises in class where you’d see what color eyes a child would have if one parent has e.g. two dominant brown-eyed genes and one has recessive blue-eyed genes.
However, Healthline points out that we’re now aware that things are far more complicated. “Your eye color is determined by several genes that control melanin production in your iris. Darker eyes have a lot of melanin, while light eyes have only a little.”
Red hair, less than 2% of the population.
Gray eyes, only 1% of the population. Side note, some people say that gray eyes are just a form of blue eyes, but I respectfully disagree.
10% of the world's population has something called Morton's toe, which is where your second toe is longer than your big toe.
Healthline explains that brown eyes look dark to us because they have a lot of light-absorbing melanin. Meanwhile, blue eyes have the least amount of melanin, so they reflect the most light. What this means is that reality isn’t as simple as what a lot of us were used to during biology class.
“Because you inherit genes from your parents, it’s likely that your eyes will be similar in color to one or both of your parents. But it’s also possible for you to have brown eyes, even if both of your parents have blue eyes.”
Only 35% of people have perfect vision without glasses.
I think it's other factors. When I was in school in a rural area, absolutely no one had eye defects even after medical checkups. Then I moved to another school in an urban area and 75% of the class has a eye defect of some sort
Freckles, 5% of the population.
Only 14% of the population can make cloverleaf shape with their tongue.
Only 2% of the world's population has naturally blond hair.
22% of people can wiggle their ears, but only around 18% of people can wiggle both of them.
Only around 25% of the population has dimples.
I have a dimple on my right cheek, my husband has one on his left cheek. And our daughter has dimples on both cheeks :)
32% of people have something called a Hitchhiker's thumb. Where when you put your thumb up, it can actually bend backwards.
I can do that. I love freaking people out with it.
Dang... I just did this and now I, too, have a hitchhiker's thumb...didn't know that about me.... I thought my thumbs were normal....HA!!
I finally found my Hitchhiker's thumb family in the comments here. I thought I was alone
My oldest has hypermobility and she can do this along with some other freaky things.
I can bend the distal joint of my right middle finger without bending the proximal
Me!!! Finally found my rarity but the percentage does not make me that special, argh wtf
Well, I just discovered I can do it just like in the photo. But if someone had asked me if I had "Hitchhiker's thumb" I'd have said "no way". I had no idea it was a thing. I suspect more people can do it, they just don't know.
I'm starting to worry here: I have blonde hair, blue eyes, am ambidextrous, have hitchhikers' thumb and can flare my nostrils at will. I am officially a freak!
Mine does it but not quite as far as the person in the picture, still freaks out my brother ;)
I can bend all my fingers a bit but I later realized that it is "not normal"
My husband can do this and he’s double jointed. Makes for a lot of ‘cracking’ joints o.o
I'm seeing this as more common now. I feel like the rare one with a very inflexible thumb
Mine does that, but a bit more rounded, like a part of a circle so it looks more natural
It's one in a generation in my family. My grandfather had it, I have thumbs like that, and my cousin's daughter does, but nobody else.
About 1% of the population has a double line of eyelashes.
33% of the population has a widow's peak.
35% of the population can gleek and 1% can do it on command. If you didn't know, that's basically where you can shoot spit from underneath your tongue.
20% of the population is double jointed.
EDS zebra here- not only hyper mobile but dislocate like 10-20 times a day.
Vitaligo less than 1% of the population.
Only 3% of the population has Xs on their palms. The critics of palmistry, these people are considered extremely lucky.
I have an X with one line very faint. Am I kinda sorta faintly lucky? Because I sure could use some really good luck right now.
Less than 10% of people only have one dimple.
Note: this post originally had 45 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Just checked and yes I am still very bloody inside so I’ll say that I am still very rare
I've got blue eyes, can flare my nostrils, got hitchhikers thumbs and can raise both eyebrows.......however I can't do maths very well so I have no idea what percentage of people those combined traits puts me in with. Can't have everything. Does that make me a superhero? "Slightly different to Average-Man". Marvel, DC give me a call.
*Everyone reading this post actually trying some of the "actionable" rarities*
And you know what?!!! There's only one of you! You're a special snowflake just like everyone else!
We really are, aren't we? Happy little unique peas in a pod 😍
Load More Replies...
I have pectus excavatum, a condition in which a person's breastbone is sunken into his or her chest. (not me in the picture, but it's similar). torax-exca...ae294a.jpg 
Okay let's list this... Red hair, blue eyes that turn green blue sometimes for some reason, dimples, lots and lots of freckles born with them, ambidextrous, sneeze with my eyes open, fold my tongue, clover thingy with my tongue, whistle, missing the polmaris muscle thing, I can gleek, and funnily enough I had gap teeth that naturally went away lol. I'm a strange cocktail 🤔 Edit: Also just realised while looking in the mirror I have a widows peak lol
100% of the people who read this post fact-checked at least 1 claim.
I recently discovered that I have Aphantasia. I was never aware that I was any different than anyone else. It's made me sad.
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I wonder why people, including myself, feel such a strong need to be special.
98.5% of people love to believe they are rare or unique. You are less rare now.
How rare are eyes that change colour, have central heterochromia that's a brown ring and also have partial heterochromia that's a grayish blue spot?
According to this, I'm a unicorn. I can raise one eyebrow, can flare my nostrils at will, I have dark strawberry blonde hair, grey eyes, can whistle, fold my tongue in half, have 'hitchhiker's thumbs', can 'gleek' (but not on command), have Xes on my palms, 'Morton's Toe', am missing a Palmaris Longus muscle on both arms, and have a double row of eyelashes. No idea what the chances are of having all of those at once. Though honestly, I'd think of myself more of being a genetic freak :P
Let's hope you never need packed cells though! Also if you have any antibodies its gonna be a tough time!
Load More Replies...
Only about 0.0245% of people have the same combination of traits as I do.
I have green eyes and blonde hair. I can wiggle my ears and flare my nostrils. Hitchhiker's thumb, Mortons toe and hypermobile joints. Cloverleaf tongue, can raise one eyebrow, perfect vision. I'm a mutant! Lol call the X-men 😆
I have grey eyes. No one else in my family does but im sure im not adopted cause i look very much like my family. Im just the only one with very light grey eyes. And i agree. Its not blue it doesnt depend on the light its just grey. And all of my family is born blonde and turned dark over the years like most people but im the only one that stayed blonde. Im 28 so im guessing that wont change.
I have one dimple, some freckles, and apparently Hitchiker's Thumb. Also can flare my nostrils. Did not know I was so rare! Feeling better about not being able to wiggle my ears or raise one eyebrow.
I'm sorry....but by 'the population', do they mean world or the US.....and if they mean world, was some kind of world survey taken?....just asking
I can flare my nostrils, wiggle one n both my ears, sneeze in sun, ambidextrous, widowspeak, i can whistle with lips n fingers as well, and 6/6 eye sight
So... does anyone else have the ability to fold, roll and make a clover with their tongue? I have yet to meet anyone who can do all 3. . . Am I a unicorn, or an odd lizard?
So, natural redhead, blue eyes, covered in freckles, dimple on my left cheek (but not the right), gap between my 2 front bottom teeth, and no wisdom teeth; can gleek, wiggle both ears, flare my nostrils, whistle, and fold my tongue. And here I thought I was just like everyone else, lol
Yeah.. Don't believe all of them... Also, I must be super rare because I'm part of the 30%, 10%, 30%, 2%, 35%, 14%,14%, 20% and 5%!
I have a muscle above my upper lip. It allows me to "curl up" or "fold" my lip. Unfortunately it's not cute like wiggling your nose or ears (I can do that too). It kinda looks like someone chopped your lip off and it's just raw flesh (rich red of the mouth). Great for freaking people out though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Seriously what the hell was the point of that muscle? So weird
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The intro mentions sneezing with your eyes open, but does not give a stat. But I can do it!
Let’s see, I get the sun sneezing thing, I have green eyes, freckles, can raise either eyebrow, have the genes for red hair, I can wiggle my ears and I have a Morton’s toe…such a unique snowflake I am!
Me: born with vitilgo, central heterochromia, ambidextrous, can raise both eyebrows. Dang didn't know I was so rare
I'm left handed, I can flare my nostrils, I can raise one eyebrow, I'm left-handed but also ambidextrous, I have Morton's toe, naturally a blond and I'm an Aquarius. So I am a little bit rare.
Me: Gray eyes, left-handed, ambidextrous at some things, can raise one eyebrow, can flare nostrils, can wiggle one ear (used to be able to wiggle both, individually), can whistle, have one arched fingerprint. So I wonder how many of these attributes tend to cluster.
I wonder what % of adults can digest dairy without any issues. I've heard it's a small number and I have this mutant power
The percentage of lactose intolerance is 80-something percent. Dairy tolerance is a primarily European trait so it's actually quite rare outside of the western world.
Load More Replies... This was fun, thank you. I'm here on Bored Panda for this kind of articles. 💕
Grey eyes, Hitchiker thumbs, can wiggle my years and flare nostrils, have Widow peak, oh my, such a gal :D
Red Hair, Left handed, Tons of Freckles all over my Body and Green Eyes. So, yeah? :D
I have a rare thing called shoulder subluxation which is where i can half dislocate both shoulders on command! It freaks people out and i've never met anyone else who can do it so please reply if you can!
If this means you can slide through stuff like drainpipes then you win the superhero part of this discussion!
Load More Replies... I’m sorry, but there is no way to measure the majority of these stats. These are all estimations, and probably far fetched ones, at that. I know that no one has polled me on whether I have X’s on my palms. There are many old people around the world that are still alive on this planet that have never been fingerprinted. Probably an even higher percentage who have never even looked at the lines on their palms.
Actually, a lot of the "rare" characteristics are only rare because they only occur frequently in white people. Like red hair and grey eyes - not uncommon in many white populations, but very difficult to find in the rest of the world. Not impossible though.
Load More Replies... Just checked and yes I am still very bloody inside so I’ll say that I am still very rare
I've got blue eyes, can flare my nostrils, got hitchhikers thumbs and can raise both eyebrows.......however I can't do maths very well so I have no idea what percentage of people those combined traits puts me in with. Can't have everything. Does that make me a superhero? "Slightly different to Average-Man". Marvel, DC give me a call.
*Everyone reading this post actually trying some of the "actionable" rarities*
And you know what?!!! There's only one of you! You're a special snowflake just like everyone else!
We really are, aren't we? Happy little unique peas in a pod 😍
Load More Replies... I have pectus excavatum, a condition in which a person's breastbone is sunken into his or her chest. (not me in the picture, but it's similar). torax-exca...ae294a.jpg
Okay let's list this... Red hair, blue eyes that turn green blue sometimes for some reason, dimples, lots and lots of freckles born with them, ambidextrous, sneeze with my eyes open, fold my tongue, clover thingy with my tongue, whistle, missing the polmaris muscle thing, I can gleek, and funnily enough I had gap teeth that naturally went away lol. I'm a strange cocktail 🤔 Edit: Also just realised while looking in the mirror I have a widows peak lol
100% of the people who read this post fact-checked at least 1 claim.
I recently discovered that I have Aphantasia. I was never aware that I was any different than anyone else. It's made me sad.
Load More Replies... I wonder why people, including myself, feel such a strong need to be special.
98.5% of people love to believe they are rare or unique. You are less rare now.
How rare are eyes that change colour, have central heterochromia that's a brown ring and also have partial heterochromia that's a grayish blue spot?
According to this, I'm a unicorn. I can raise one eyebrow, can flare my nostrils at will, I have dark strawberry blonde hair, grey eyes, can whistle, fold my tongue in half, have 'hitchhiker's thumbs', can 'gleek' (but not on command), have Xes on my palms, 'Morton's Toe', am missing a Palmaris Longus muscle on both arms, and have a double row of eyelashes. No idea what the chances are of having all of those at once. Though honestly, I'd think of myself more of being a genetic freak :P
Let's hope you never need packed cells though! Also if you have any antibodies its gonna be a tough time!
Load More Replies... Only about 0.0245% of people have the same combination of traits as I do.
I have green eyes and blonde hair. I can wiggle my ears and flare my nostrils. Hitchhiker's thumb, Mortons toe and hypermobile joints. Cloverleaf tongue, can raise one eyebrow, perfect vision. I'm a mutant! Lol call the X-men 😆
I have grey eyes. No one else in my family does but im sure im not adopted cause i look very much like my family. Im just the only one with very light grey eyes. And i agree. Its not blue it doesnt depend on the light its just grey. And all of my family is born blonde and turned dark over the years like most people but im the only one that stayed blonde. Im 28 so im guessing that wont change.
I have one dimple, some freckles, and apparently Hitchiker's Thumb. Also can flare my nostrils. Did not know I was so rare! Feeling better about not being able to wiggle my ears or raise one eyebrow.
I'm sorry....but by 'the population', do they mean world or the US.....and if they mean world, was some kind of world survey taken?....just asking
I can flare my nostrils, wiggle one n both my ears, sneeze in sun, ambidextrous, widowspeak, i can whistle with lips n fingers as well, and 6/6 eye sight
So... does anyone else have the ability to fold, roll and make a clover with their tongue? I have yet to meet anyone who can do all 3. . . Am I a unicorn, or an odd lizard?
So, natural redhead, blue eyes, covered in freckles, dimple on my left cheek (but not the right), gap between my 2 front bottom teeth, and no wisdom teeth; can gleek, wiggle both ears, flare my nostrils, whistle, and fold my tongue. And here I thought I was just like everyone else, lol
Yeah.. Don't believe all of them... Also, I must be super rare because I'm part of the 30%, 10%, 30%, 2%, 35%, 14%,14%, 20% and 5%!
I have a muscle above my upper lip. It allows me to "curl up" or "fold" my lip. Unfortunately it's not cute like wiggling your nose or ears (I can do that too). It kinda looks like someone chopped your lip off and it's just raw flesh (rich red of the mouth). Great for freaking people out though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Seriously what the hell was the point of that muscle? So weird
Load More Replies... The intro mentions sneezing with your eyes open, but does not give a stat. But I can do it!
Let’s see, I get the sun sneezing thing, I have green eyes, freckles, can raise either eyebrow, have the genes for red hair, I can wiggle my ears and I have a Morton’s toe…such a unique snowflake I am!
Me: born with vitilgo, central heterochromia, ambidextrous, can raise both eyebrows. Dang didn't know I was so rare
I'm left handed, I can flare my nostrils, I can raise one eyebrow, I'm left-handed but also ambidextrous, I have Morton's toe, naturally a blond and I'm an Aquarius. So I am a little bit rare.
Me: Gray eyes, left-handed, ambidextrous at some things, can raise one eyebrow, can flare nostrils, can wiggle one ear (used to be able to wiggle both, individually), can whistle, have one arched fingerprint. So I wonder how many of these attributes tend to cluster.
I wonder what % of adults can digest dairy without any issues. I've heard it's a small number and I have this mutant power
The percentage of lactose intolerance is 80-something percent. Dairy tolerance is a primarily European trait so it's actually quite rare outside of the western world.
Load More Replies... This was fun, thank you. I'm here on Bored Panda for this kind of articles. 💕
Grey eyes, Hitchiker thumbs, can wiggle my years and flare nostrils, have Widow peak, oh my, such a gal :D
Red Hair, Left handed, Tons of Freckles all over my Body and Green Eyes. So, yeah? :D
I have a rare thing called shoulder subluxation which is where i can half dislocate both shoulders on command! It freaks people out and i've never met anyone else who can do it so please reply if you can!
If this means you can slide through stuff like drainpipes then you win the superhero part of this discussion!
Load More Replies... I’m sorry, but there is no way to measure the majority of these stats. These are all estimations, and probably far fetched ones, at that. I know that no one has polled me on whether I have X’s on my palms. There are many old people around the world that are still alive on this planet that have never been fingerprinted. Probably an even higher percentage who have never even looked at the lines on their palms.
Actually, a lot of the "rare" characteristics are only rare because they only occur frequently in white people. Like red hair and grey eyes - not uncommon in many white populations, but very difficult to find in the rest of the world. Not impossible though.
Load More Replies...