Q 01/05

Roughly what share of people of Northwestern European ancestry have red hair?

A) 2-6%

B) 10-15%

C) 20-25%

D) Less than 1%

Answer · why

A) 2-6%

It is the rarest natural human hair colour and is far scarcer outside Europe.

Q 02/05

Red hair is linked to a recessive allele on which chromosome?

A) 16

B) 18

C) 20

D) 22

Answer · why

A) 16

The variant alters the MC1R protein; a person usually needs two copies to be red-haired.

Q 03/05

Which pigment gives red hair its colour?

A) Carotene

B) Haemoglobin

C) Pheomelanin

D) Eumelanin

Answer · why

C) Pheomelanin

Red hair has far more of this reddish pigment than of the dark pigment eumelanin.

Q 04/05

What type of inheritance describes red hair?

A) Autosomal co-dominant

B) X-linked dominant

C) Mitochondrial

D) Autosomal recessive

Answer · why

D) Autosomal recessive

Two non-red-haired parents can both carry the gene and produce a redheaded child.

Q 05/05

What percentage of redheads carry an MC1R variant in the RHC group?

A) Fifty

B) Eighty

C) One hundred

D) Twenty

Answer · why

B) Eighty

Twin studies show MC1R variation is necessary but not sufficient; unidentified modifier genes are also involved.