Is there a biological purpose to different eye and skin colors?

Question

Do different eye colors provide different benefits? How about with skin color? Does being fair-skinned have benefits in colder climates that dark skin doesn't? How about dark-skin in warmer climates?

I'm tempted to give Best Answer to the person who explains the eye color difference first. Thanks for all the interesting answers so far though! I had no clue about nose length. Uber neat.

Answer 1

Yes. Darker skin has better sun tolerence than lighter, and is valuable where the sun shines a lot. Lighter skin absorbs more needed vitamin D in areas where there isn't much sunlight. I don't know about eye color, but the length of your nose matters too. In colder climates, a longer nose and smaller nostrils allow cold air to warm up some before it hits your sinuses and lungs. In hot humid areas, a shorter nose with broader nostrils allows you to inhale more air at the ambient temp without heating it up as much.

Answer 2

Dark skin is the result of a protective pigment which prevents the sun's rays from reaching the inner layers of skin. All eye colors are blue underneath. A person having blue eyes is actually the result of NOT having another color overlaying it. All babies initially have blue eyes, as a pigment forms (sometimes after birth), the eyes become another color. This is why most babies start out with blue eyes, and where the color "baby blue" comes from.

Answer 3

Dark skin protects against the Sun to a greater amount than light skin, so if you live in a sunny environment, dark skin will help protect you from sunburn and skin cancer.

Light skin is more transparent to sunlight, and therefore will increase your natural level of Vitamin D, which is catalyzed in the body by sunlight. So if you live in a relatively sunless environment, lighter skin is a benefit.

Answer 4

Yes, people evolved to fit into the enviroment...people in hot area (close to the equator) tend to have darker skin and eye color to protect them from the sun UV rays. Usually have longer limbs as well...resulting in more skin surface area so that more heat is lost. People in colder areas(eskimos) have shorter limbs, meaning less surface area, to conserve heat. So, yes not only eye and skin color have biological purpose but so does limb size, nose size and length, and hair type.

Answer 5

Well, I have pale blue eyes and my Opthamologist made me PROMISE to never go outside without sunglasses. She said this could save me serious problems as I grew older.

Short broad noses keep the air cool and moist. Long thin noses keep the air warm and dry.

Dark skin gets less skin cancer, where light skin gets MORE vitamin D from sunlight.

So yes, there ARE advantages.

Answer 6

Dark hair is a trait from cold winters. Dark skin is from loads of sun. It's just how the body adapts. Now that you can travel from one corner of the world to another within hours, it's only a matter of time before we all look kinda like each other.

Answer 7

skin darkness is upon melanian deposit to fur u can produce maximum amount of melonian and still be white because producing melanian have to get to fur inorder to effect ur skin color
it doesnt benefit if u have different blue eyes(other than girls attraction) or brown same with skin color
it is true that if u r leaving near the equator u have chances to get dark due to the sunlight but there is not benefit

Answer 8

Brown eye colour is the dominant. You get blue, green, and grey if there is some sort of genetic mutation that prevents your body from producing the brown pigment. It is thought that the brown eye pigment gives your eyes some protection from UV rays.

Answer 9

While we were evolving in Africa sunlight (and thus Vit. D) was plentiful and so we had lots of melanin in our skin. as we moved out of africa we needed to evolve with less melanin so it was easier for us to absorb the Vit. D

about the eyes I don't know