Wallenda family shares risk-taking gene

Aerialist Nik Wallenda tightropes over the Niagara Falls June 15, 2012, in Niagara Falls, Canada. Wallenda walked across the 1,800-foot long, 2-inch-wide wire to become the first person to cross directly over the falls from the U.S. into Canada.

Wallenda, 33 and a father of three, is a seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas who trace their roots to 1780 Austria-Hungary, when ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists. ABC televised the event and insisted the daredevil wear a tethered harness to prevent live coverage of a potentially deadly fall 190 feet into the churning torrent below.

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