What did Genghis Khan use to enable him to father so many children? Some men are just built differently.

 

Genghis Khan was different from the average Mongolian man in a number of ways. For one, a Persian historian named Rashid al-Din described Genghis physically, and as a neutral observer I take his description seriously. He said the Khan was a tall man with a ruddy complexion, a red tint to his hair and extremely well-built.

It is uncommon but not entirely unheard of for Mongolian people to have red hair. It is decidedly not uncommon for them to be of tall stature or well-built, as anyone who has ever seen traditional Mongolian wrestlers compete will attest to. Even today, a great many of Japan’s top-ranking sumo wrestlers are naturalized Japanese citizens with Mongolian roots. Genghis Khan must have been a very powerful man with unusually high levels of natural testosterone production. He was likely more virile and fertile than the average man, even well into old age.

According to those who met the descendants of Genghis Khan, several of his sons and grandsons also had a reddish tone to their hair. They tended to be tall and well-built as well. It is highly likely that Genghis Khan was a highly impressive physical specimen.