Can you guess the results of the paternity test based on a photo?

 

Published: 9/03/2016

A lot of people believe that a visual resemblance between parents and their children is a clear indication of being genetically related and vice versa. Whilst such an assumption is generally applicable, in some cases similar facial features are just that - similar.

To illustrate the importance of DNA testing, we offer you a quick quiz to try and guess the results of a paternity test based only on a photo of the faces of the parents and their children. The photos and the results are taken from real paternity testing cases from the public domain. Will you guess all correctly?

Case 1

Child

Mother

Alleged Father

 

Your answer:

Is the alleged father the biological father?

      

 

Case 2

Child

Mother

Alleged Father

 

Your answer:

Is the alleged father the biological father?

      

 

Case 3

Child

Mother

Alleged Father

 

Your answer:

Is the alleged father the biological father?

      

 

Trivia:

A Non-Paternity Event (NPE) is a clinical genetics term to describe an instance in which the presumed father of a child is not the biological father. The NPE rate varies by country from approximately 2% in the United States and Canada, to 1.6% in Europe and to about 2.9% elsewhere. In contrast, if we look only at men who express a low paternity confidence i.e. they express doubts about their paternity, the NPE rate increases to 30%.

Bonus Case

Child 1

 

Child 2

 

Mother

 

Alleged Father

 

Your answer:

Is the alleged father the biological father?

      

 

Trivia:

Heteropaternal Superfecundation (HS) describes a situation where one of the child from a twin pair is the result of an egg fertilized by the sperm of two different fathers. HS does not and cannot occur in the case of genetically identical twins. The rate of incidence of HS is believe to be between 0.5% and 2% amongst the fraternal twin population.

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