That's what Moulay Ismail's family looked like.

穆萊·伊斯梅爾就有著這樣的家庭。

He was a brutal emperor of the Moroccan Alaouite Dynasty from 1672 to 1727, and he was reported to have had at least 1,171 children.

他是摩洛哥阿拉維王朝的一名暴君，執政時期從 1672 到 1727 年，而且據說他膝下至少有 1,171 個孩子。

But he wasn't the only one who used his power to sleep with hundreds of women, whether they were interested or not.

但他並不是唯一一個利用權勢，無論對方自願與否，和數百位女性發生關係的統治者。

Other rulers like Augustus the Strong, and Genghis Khan had hundreds of children, and while these were some of the more ruthless rulers of their time, it raises a more fundamental scientific question. [How many children can a human have in a lifetime?]

其他的統治者，像是「強力王」奧古斯特二世以及成吉思汗也有數百個孩子。雖然他們都是那個時代裡比較殘暴的，但他們的多子而這也引出了一個基本的科學問題。[一個人一生到底可以有幾個孩子？]

Women can reproduce for about half their lifetime and can only give birth about once every year or so, so it makes sense that women can only have a fraction as many children as men.

女人的一生當中有一半的時間能夠生育，而每年約只能夠生產一次。因此，女人一生中能夠擁有的孩子數量與男人相比少得多是有道理的。

One study estimated that women can have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime, and depending on how many babies she gives birth to at a time, a woman can probably have around 15 to 30 children max.

一個研究估計女人一生大約能夠有 15 次的妊娠。取決於她一次能生下幾個孩子，一個女人終其一生最多大約能夠生 15 到 30 個孩子。

But the most prolific mother ever, according to Guinness World Records, was Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev in 19th-century Russia.

但根據金氏世界紀綠記載，有史以來最多產的母親是 19 世紀俄羅斯的 Feodor Vassilyev 夫人。

She is said to have given birth to 69 children over 27 pregnancies.

據說她一生共懷孕了 27 次，生下了 69 個孩子。

That's a lot for one woman, but that's nothing compared to our friend from earlier, Moulay Ismail.

這對於一個女人已經很多了，不過和我們一開始提到的穆萊·伊斯梅爾比起來，根本是小巫見大巫。

According to records, he had four wives and 500 women in his harem.

根據記載，他的後宮裡有四位妻子和 500 名女人。

But there are factors that not even an emperor can control, like how a man's sperm becomes less mobile and more abnormal as he grows older, which ultimately reduces his chances of fathering children later in life.

不過儘管貴為君主，他仍有無法控制的因素，像是男人的精子會隨著年紀增長，活動力逐漸下降且越趨異常，並在降低他在晚年時成為父親的機會。

In fact, studies suggest that men over 50 have an up to 38% lower chance of impregnating a woman compared to men under 30.

事實上，研究表明超過 50 歲的男性比起 30 歲以下的男性，能夠讓女性受孕的機會降低了 38％。

For Ismail, he fathered most of his children relatively young, so by age 57, he had an estimated 1,171 kids.

對於伊斯梅爾來說，他的孩子大部分出世在他比較年輕的時候。而根據估計，他在 57 歲時便已經有了 1,171 個孩子。

But he wasn't the only man in history with tons of progeny.

不過他並不是史上唯一一位子孫滿堂的人。

Augustus the Strong was king of 18th-century Poland, and he had a long distance relationship with his wife.

「強力王」奧古斯特是 18 世紀時波蘭的國王，並與妻子是遠距離分居。

So, of course that didn't stop him from fathering a rumored 370 children by mistresses.

於是這當然無法阻礙他和情婦們生下據傳有 370 名的孩子。

And Genghis Khan, notorious for conquering large areas of 13th-century Asia, is estimated to have had between 1,000 and 2,000 children.

還有在 13 世紀以征服廣闊的亞洲地區而聞名的成吉思汗，估計也有 1000 到 2000 個孩子。

In fact, by tracking types of Y chromosomes, scientists estimate that up to 16 million men today, who live in regions that Khan conquered, could have been descendants of him or his close male relatives.

事實上，藉由追蹤 Y 染色體，科學家預估現今有 1600 萬生活在成吉思汗曾征服過地區的人們很有可能是他，或是他男性近親的後代。

But did these men really reach their maximum human possibility?

但是這些人真的有發揮到身為人類最大可能性嗎？

Turns out the records on Ismail only spanned 32 years of his life.

其實，史料只記載了伊斯梅爾人生中的 32 年。

By one calculation, he really could have had hundreds more.

根據某人的計算指出，他很可能另外還有數百個孩子。

If you compare that to men in more modern times, the most prolific fathers today have about 200 children.

如果和現代的人比較，現今最多產的父親大約有 200 個孩子。

That's nowhere near 1,171, and honestly, it's probably for the best.

遠遠不及 1,171 個。而老實說，這樣或許也比較好。