# How can my second cousin only share 3 percent of my genes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-second-cousin-only-share-3-percent-of-my-genes/612392>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 10, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-second-cousin-only-share-3-percent-of-my-genes/612392 "2012-02-10T06:33:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-my-second-cousin-only-share-3-percent-of-my-genes/612392/21 "2012-02-10T22:01:17Z")

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Sometimes, some particular feature may only depend on one or two genes. And when someone says “you look just like your great-uncle so-and-so”, they might just mean that you have the same chin, or the same nose, or the like.

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