• Question: why do we have so many different skin tones in the world?

    Asked by megfrank to Daniel, Maggie, Ry, Scott on 16 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Scott Melville

      Scott Melville answered on 16 Nov 2017:

      Good question!
      I’m not an expert, so I actually don’t know for sure. I reckon it’s to do with evolution – some skin pigments are better adapted to certain conditions (certain levels of light, heat, etc. – like how you get a tan when you go on holiday), so if two groups of people live in different places for long enough, their skins will start to become different colours

    • Photo: Maggie Lieu

      Maggie Lieu answered on 16 Nov 2017:

      Our skin colour is based on the amount of a substance called melanin. The more melanin you have in your skin, the darker you are. Melanin is like a natural sun screen, it protects us from the harmful UV rays of the sun. Thats why when we sun bathe we get a tan. Humans have evolved so that countries where it is always sunny will have more melanin in their skin

    • Photo: Ry Cutter

      Ry Cutter answered on 16 Nov 2017:

      Geographic Evolution!
      Depending on where you are in the world will affect the kind of nutrients in your diet and what harmful things your body is exposed to.
      The primary factor influencing skin tone is melanin. The more you have the darker your skin tone. Moles are patches of skin with high melanin concentration. When the sun is out the amount of melanin in a body increases (you get a tan!) which protects your skin from the damaging sun rays.
      Caucasian (white) people tend to live in places where there isn’t as much exposure to the sun, this meant creating large amounts of melanin was a wasteful use of resources.
      Darker skinned people, however. Their ancestors were most likely in the sun a lot of the time. This meant it was better to have a permanent supply of melanin instead of creating it on demand.
      There is a rare genetic defect that causes the body to make no melanin, called Albinism (this can result in some very pretty animals ).
      Great question,
      Ryan

Comments