why do people have different skin colors?

Question

****** are dark,chinese got yellowish skin.

Answer 1

because of the amount of melanin in their skin

Answer 2

There are biological reasons behind the variations in skin color and body type in different ethnicities. These variations developed over a very long time, and it is of utmost importance that you understand that some magical power didn't just make some people white and others black for any reason. It entirely depends on the location in which that ethnicity originated. Answer me this: who's more likely to get a sunburn, someone who's really pale or someone who's really dark? Indigenous people of Africa generally have dark skin tones because they have evolved to have more melanin (a chemical that the body produces that effectively darkens the skin) in their skin because the sunny conditions have made it more practical for Africans to have dark skin.

If this answer isn't satisfying (which would surprise me by the way you worded your question) there is a lot more to it. You might be wondering why indigenous people from, say, Hawaii aren't black because it's just as sunny there. The answer is that people are never truly indigenous to an area other than Africa, for humans became their own species on the continent of Africa. Dark skinned people migrated from Africa and populated the rest of the world, but this took a lot of time and they had to take many indirect routes to get to many of these places. When people stay long enough in areas that aren't particularly sunny, then the amount of melanin in their skin declines because there is no need for them to have dark skin. Why wouldn't they just just keep their dark skin? Because people with dark skin, while being less prone to types of skin cancer and other sun induced ailments, have difficulty getting the proper amounts of vitamin D. People with lighter skin have an easier time absorbing vitamin D, so when the dark skin isn't needed because of the sun (like in Northern Europe, for instance), then people develop lighter skin for want of vitamin D.

Why is it that skin cancer comes secondary to vitamin D deficiency? You might think that skin cancer would have more influence, but it usually kills after people are past their prime reproducing age, whereas a vitamin D deficiency harms people from birth until death.

There are of course exceptions. For instance, the Inuit and Yupik peoples live in a very sun-poor region, but they have dark skin. This is most likely because they consume a lot of animal products and get their vitamin D from there.

Hope this helps you understand our world a little better.

Answer 3

Do to UV radiation being stronger at the equator people are darkest at the equator, and the decrease of skin color with latitude is assumed to be the same in both hemispheres. Altho UV radiation is higher in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere at similar latitude.

Do to geological separation and time people at those latitudes have evolved to have different colors of skin. Cuz what sence would it make to have an albino at a point that recives more sun light than other places in the world he would have alot of trouble going out side and what not. Do to that not being a strong genetic trait people tend to not wanna "mate" or "bump uglys" and that trait dies right there. But a strong genetic trait like darker skin (less likly to sun burn than the albino) will prevail and continue.

Answer 4

"The many shades of hair and skin color that we see in any group of people arise from varying proportions of the two different melanin pigments. A high proportion of eumelanin leads to darker skin and (particularly) hair color; people with lighter hair and skin color have less eumelanin and more phaeomelanin."

http://www.pg.com/science/skincare/Skin_tws_17.htm;jsessionid=D43FVFEIOP13ZQFIAJ4C0JGAVABHOLKM

melanin

Any of several organic compounds, dark biological pigments that give coloration (shades of yellow to brown) to skin, hair, feathers, scales, eyes, and some internal tissues, notably the substantia nigra in the brain. In humans, melanins help protect the skin against the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation, but melanoma may arise from cells that produce it. The amount in the skin depends on both genetic and environmental factors. Melanin is produced from the amino acid tyrosine; albinos lack the enzyme that catalyzes that reaction (see albinism).

http://www.answers.com/topic/melanin

Answer 5

Evolution. In short: Many people historically believe that as Homo sapiens travelled away from Africa and towards the colder and and less sunny expanses of northern Asia, different survival needs were met more effectively by different characteristics in some individuals. ie: Dark skin was less important.

Answer 6

it depends on the amount of melanin u have. n the amount of melanin u have depends on the genes u have. i think there r like 6 alleles of the gene for skin color. n if u get all dominant ones ur very dark. if u get all recessive u have a very light skin.

Answer 7

i always thought that people have different skin colors based on where their ancestors originated from. People that originated nearest to the equator (more direct sunlight) have darker skin to protect them from the sun. Whereas people that live nearer the poles have lighter skin due to lower sun contact. So really, people adapted to their environments... But that's just my theory...

Answer 8

There are two basic reasons. If you don't have enough melanin then you will get sunburned. If you have too much, then you body cannot make the ideal amount of vitamin D.

Answer 9

People's skin color differs because of the amount of pigmentation in the skin. Albinos have no pigment and black people have the most pigment.

Answer 10

As a result of the colour pigment known as menalin it determines the skin colour.