History Main / GeneHunting

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' invokes but averts it. Godzilla III a.k.a Junior doesn't have the faintest idea who or where his biological family is or if they are still alive. But when asked if he would ever would want to find his"real family", he casually shrugs it off and displays only nonchalant apathy; citing that his adoptive parents and siblings were the only family he'd want.

* During the finale of season 1, [[spoiler:Fred Jones]] learns that he's really the child of [[spoiler:Brad and Judy from the original Mystery Incorporated]] and was kidnapped as a child. During the brief time skip between seasons he blindly searches for them. Unfortunately, when they do appear, they're not that great and as time goes by they're increasingly influenced by [[HatePlague the curse of the treasure]].

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' invokes but averts it. Godzilla III a.k.a Junior doesn't have the faintest idea who or where his biological family is or if they are still alive. But when asked if he would ever would want to find his"real family", be casually shrugs it off and displays only nonchalant apathy; citing that his adoptive parents and siblings were his the only family he'd want.

* ''Secrets and Lies'' is all about somebody looking for her birth mother, though she knew she was adopted all along. The death of her adoptive mother triggers the search.

* ''Series/AlmostFamily'': [[spoiler: Julia]] learns she isn't biologically related to her father due to her deceased mother's affair, and sets out to find her birth father.

* Subverted in ''Disney/TheTiggerMovie''. The whole plot of the movie revolves around Tigger looking for his biological family and any vestiges of it... [[spoiler:only for him to discover that he doesn't actually have a biological family, and that his real family are his friends who have vowed to always be there for him]].
* PlayedWith in ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons:'' Protagonist [[ChildProdigy Lewis]] was raised in an orphanage and wants to find his biological mother, but then, using TimeTravel, [[spoiler:meets the family that he ''will'' have if he lets himself get adopted]].
* Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' learns that his mom and pop found him as a baby and sets off to find out where he truly came from. He thus learns that he's the son of the god Zeus, was BroughtDownToBadass during a botched kidnapping/infanticide, and has to prove himself a true hero to regain his godhood and return to Olympus.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Skye got involved with Rising Tide (and agreed to join SHIELD) partly so she could search various databases for clues about her parents. She knows only that she was dropped off at an orphanage by a SHIELD agent. The episode "Seeds" answers some questions about her origin, but raises a lot of new ones.
** In the second season, she finds out about [[spoiler:her father, and quickly wishes she didn't.]]

* On ''Series/CSINewYork'', the son Mac's late wife gave up for adoption as a teenager comes searching for her, only to learn that she'd died on 9/11. Although his Gene Hunting was a failure, Mac sympathizes with his could-have-been-stepson, and strikes up a friendship to tell him about his late mother.

* The main characters of the first arc of ''Literature/WingsOfFire''were kidnapped as eggs and spend a lot of time trying to find their biological families, with varying success (Clay finds that parents in his tribe don't even care for their children but has a bunch of siblings who do care, Tsunami's mother cares for her and has admirable qualities but also turns out to be a KnightTemplarParent with a cruel streak, Glory's tribe turns out to not really have families but she is able to identify a brother and an older relative who she becomes close to, Starflight's family turns out to be all [[ArchnemesisDad villainous]] [[AbelAndCain or]] dead, and Sunny ends up meeting actually caring parents).

* Po's arc in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda 2'' is driven in part by this, especially since he has faint memories of his original parents abandoning him. But he eventually comes to terms with both the fact that [[spoiler: they loved him so much they died for him, and that his adoptive father loves him no less.]]

Should not be confused with StalkerWithATestTube, an entirely different form of gene hunting. Or with using someone's DNA to find them, as is done in the Series/{{CSI}} franchise. Has nothing to do with the GeneHuntInterrogationTechnique (or so we hope).

* The plot of the ''Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' special "''A Chipmunk Reunion''" revolves around the triplets looking for their mother. The brothers want to know what their birthday is so they run away to look for their mother. When they meet their mom Alvin is upset, not believing that he loved her since he abandoned her, until she explains that it was a terrible winter when they were born. They couldn't survive the journey so she left them with David. She was gonna take them back in the spring but they were happy with Dave so she left them.

* Po's arc in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda 2'' is driven in part by this, especially since he has faint memories of his original parents abandoning him. But he eventually comes to terms with both the fact that [[spoiler: they loved him so much they died for him, and that his adoptive father loves him no less.]] Cue CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming marathon.

--->[[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming Keith: You think that charm of yours is learned behaviour? That's genetics, baby!]]

** [[spoiler: They weren't even their ''biological'' parents. They [[DoorstopBaby were found outside their cave as babies and they took them in]]. Cat and dog are annoyed that they still don't know where they came from, but they knew who [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming cared for them when they were young and that was good enough for them]].]]

* ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily'' is kickstarted when Jason Todd learns that the people who raised him weren't his biological parents, and that his biological mother may still be alive. He eventually finds her [[spoiler:though it would have been better if he hadn't.]]