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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This aerial view shows the Horseshoe section of Niagara Falls on June 14, 2012.

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Tourists visiting Niagara Falls, N.Y., on June 14, 2012, pass the tightrope that will be used by high-wire walker Nik Wallenda, 33, on June 15 to cross from the U.S. to Canada over the Horseshoe section of the falls.

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High-wire walker Nik Wallenda, 33, speaks to the press on June 14, 2012, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on the eve of his attempt to cross Niagara Falls.

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High-wire walker Nik Wallenda, 33, speaks to the press on June 14, 2012, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on the eve of his attempt to cross Niagara Falls.

Wallenda comes from a family of circus act and daredevil stunt performers, most known for performing highwire acts without a safety net.

Flying Wallendas, nik wallenda, niagara falls — Frank Gunn,AP Photo/The Canadian Press

Nik Wallenda walks over Niagara Falls on a tightrope in Niagara Falls, Ontario, June 15, 2012. Wallenda, who became the first person to walk on a tightrope 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of roaring Niagara Falls, had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted.

Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda crosses Niagara Falls on a wire, June 15, 2012. The famed tightrope walker completed the first walk across Niagara Falls in over a century, braving winds and heavy spray in his historic feat. Tens of thousands of spectators were packed on the U.S. and Canadian sides of the falls to watch Wallenda, 33, complete the stunt.

Nik Wallenda walks over Niagara Falls on a tightrope in Niagara Falls, Ontario, June 15, 2012.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Vincent Elkaim

Nik Wallenda pumps his fist as he completes his 1,800 feet-long tightrope walk over the brink of Niagara Falls, June 15, 2012. Wallenda battled brisk winds and thick mist to make history.

Nik Wallenda walks across Niagara Falls on a tightrope as seen from Niagara Falls, N.Y., June 15, 2012.

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High-wire acrobat Delilah Wallenda, right, lowers her head as her son Nik Wallenda, left, crosses over her during their high-wire act where the two simultaneously walked across a 300-foot-long wire suspended 100 feet in the air on June 4, 2011, between two towers of the Conrad Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They were honoring Nik's great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, who tried to perform the same feat in 1978 but fell to his death at age 73.

Alessandro Henry Wallenda-Zoppe participates in the 2009 World High Wire Championships over the Han Gang River, May 9, 2009, in Seoul, South Korea. Twenty world-famous high-wire walkers competed in the championships.

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Tino Wallenda-Zoppe walks on his hands as he participates in the 2009 World High Wire Championships over the Han Gang River on May 9, 2009, in Seoul, South Korea.

Tino Wallenda-Zoppe of the U.S. participates in the 2009 World High Wire Championships over the Han Gang River on May 9, 2009, in Seoul, South Korea.

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Ten-year-old Ysabella Wallenda-Cortes performs with the Flying Cortes, during a Big Apple Circus show in New York, Oct. 30, 2011.

Tightrope walkers of the U.S. troupe Wallenda perform Jan. 15, 2004, during Monte Carlo's international circus festival. The festival jury awarded a Silver Clown to the Wallenda troupe.

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Sacha Paulata, left, kisses his cousin Andrea Wallenda on the head as they celebrate after successfully executing the seven-person Great Pyramid without a net at the Michigan State Fair Grounds in Detroit, March 6, 1998, during the Shrine Circus. Two members of the Flying Wallendas tight-rope-walking family were killed in the same arena while trying to perform the same stunt 36 years before.

Aerialist Angel Wallenda walks the high-wire at Stone Mountain, Ga., on Sept. 21, 1991. Wallenda, who lost a leg to cancer but trained herself to walk the wire with the help of a prosthetic leg, eventually died of the disease on May 3, 1996, at age 28.

Helen Wallenda, center, arrived home in Sarasota, Fla., on March 23, 1978, with the body of her husband, Karl, and was met by about 25 relatives and circus friends. Helping her off the plane are Marjorie Geiger, left, and Herman Wallenda, Karl's older brother. Aerial performer Karl Wallenda fell to his death at age 73 in a tightrope walk at a hotel in Puerto Rico.

The Great Wallendas walk the high wire during their three-tier seven-person pyramid performance Jan. 30, 1962 at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit.

During the performance, the pyramid formation collapsed and the performers fell to the ground, injuring Jana Schepp, Mario Wallenda, Richard Faughnan and Dieter Schepp. From left in bottom row, are Dieter Schepp; Mario Wallenda; Richard Faughnan and Gunther Wallenda. From left in the second row are Karl Wallenda and Herman Wallenda. Sitting on chair is Jana Schepp.

Members of the Wallenda family practice on a 90-foot high-wire at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's winter headquarters in Sarasota, Fla., on March 19, 1944.

Members of The Flying Wallendas, famous high-wire act with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus, perform their death-defying double pinwheel in Madison Square Garden in New York on April 15, 1944. From left are Herman, Henrietta, Helen and Karl Wallenda.