...and light skinned humans evolved to deal with cooler climates, will the descendents of dark skinned people who live in cooler climates evolve light skin, and descendents of light skinned people who live in tropical climates evolve dark skin?
2006-12-20 06:39:15 · 20 answers · asked by Mark J 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
No, it has nothing to do with evolution. If anything, natural selection may be involved, but the primary cause of races is isolated gene pools.
Think about it: with the advances of civilization, variation in skin colour is not any survival advantage, if it ever were.
If anything, the re-mixing of the races will cause the racial disctinctions to become blurred; people will tend to have more similar characteristics as opposed to the variation we currently see.
2006-12-20 06:47:39 · answer #1 · answered by computerguy103 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think the answer to this question is less obvious than it seems.
Evolution theory states that the those best suited to survive will. In ancient times in hotter areas those with dark skin could hunt/provide for family better so their genes were most likely to be passed on. Lighter coloured genes dying out.
In colder areas vitamin D (which is absorbed through the skin) was the deciding factor in who was best suited to survive. Vitamin D is best absorbed through light skin.
Now that the game has changed and that there are ways to survive in hot areas without being outside (e.g. office work), and it is possible to get vitamin D supplements or use tannig lamps. The colour of someones skin is less likely to be the crucial factor in deciding survivial.
In short I'd guess not.
2006-12-20 06:49:26 · answer #2 · answered by crazy_tentacle 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It has to do with either Vitamin A or Vitamin E. The sun produces a lot of it so if you are in a climate that is closer to the sun, you tend to have darker skin so you absorb less from the sun. If you are in a climate that is further away from the sun you have lighter skin so you can absorb more of this vitamin from sunlight. Also if you have a diet that includes a lot of seafood, your skin tends to be darker because seafood contains this vitamin. Of course this takes a long time to do but it does happen, those best suited for their environment tend to survive longer and have more children to pass on their genes.
2016-05-23 01:26:26 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dark skinned people didn't evolve dark skin in the way you seem to think. people originally had genetic information for both dark and light skin.
When they moved to hot sunny climate natural selection favoured darker skin. It is thus possible, over time, for a population to then lose the genetic info for light skin.
It is nothing to do with evolution - if anything it is devolution - along with natural selection.
People of mid brown skin colour can have darker and lighter skinned children.
2006-12-20 08:28:41 · answer #4 · answered by a Real Truthseeker 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually, I think technically, that's adaption not evolution (they adapted...I think its only evolution when there is enough of a change for it to be considered another species). The theory is based on a higher survival rate of those with a certain trait. With so many people working in-doors, sun-tan lotion, modern medicine, ect. I don't think skin color would have much affect on people's survival now. I mean, how many people dye from exposure now a days? Some people die from skin cancer, but that usually only affects them later in life--it usally wouldn't kill them before they had a chance to have children and pass the trait on.
2006-12-20 06:49:41 · answer #5 · answered by Ecaria 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since the ability to tolerate high or low sunlight is no longer a factor in the ability of humans to create offspring, I would not anticipate "evolutionary" changes in skin color.
Since populations are no longer separated either, one could assume that over time there will be a greater mixing of genes resulting in more intermediate skin colors, again no natural selection involved at this point, really.
2006-12-20 07:38:09 · answer #6 · answered by John V 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no their skin will not become dark but it will become a bit darker so that they can be able to adapt to the tropical climate and the same will happen to the dark kids bt they will adapt to the cooler climate regions
2006-12-21 20:17:59 · answer #7 · answered by Me!! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dude, it's really simple. Natural selection. Which skin tone will be more desirable and be passed on? Genes won't necessarily mutate and change a blood line from dark skinned people to light skinned people. However, as people mingle I think we're all going to become a nice muddy middle color. Kinda Philipino, I think. Beautiful people.
2006-12-20 06:49:53 · answer #8 · answered by luckyme 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the colour of skin is decided by the amount of melanin in the skin..the more the melanin the more dark will b the colour of the skin.......the melanin producing genes are activated by the increase exposure to sunlight..which is a prominent case in trpical countries........but in cooler countries which usually don't get much of the sunlight the melanin production occurs at the lowest level....................this diffrence has evolved through centuries of evolution!!!!!!
2006-12-20 06:44:32 · answer #9 · answered by Rakesh M 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Dark skinned people didn't evolve to have darker skin since we are all decendants of africa. you will probably find that as we slowly moved out into Asia and Europe we seperated into small groups, the dark skinned people tended to screw other dark skinned people as interbreeding would have been normal in such isolated groups.
Ditto with those humans who had different melanine contents.
This is why black people don't die if they go to Scotland and whites can live happily in South Africa
2006-12-20 06:45:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋