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I see albino people occasionally but today I saw an African girl who appeared to be a complete albino. blonde hair, blonde eyelashes, white skin. It made me wonder if that is where white race appeared from, since first man was African. Differences in animals, say dogs, are due to selective breeding. traits don't just appear, but for some reason science books give us a very vague description of race, saying that Africans traveled to europe where they developed light skin. We never apply such a vague theory to animals, usually scientists will discuss natural selection, where mutations in the genes that manifest physically can be selcted by nature as advantageous. If an African man and his family lived in scandinavia for even 500 or 1000 years, I don't believe that he would eventually become white. If he had an albino offspring, however, could not that be naturally selected as an advantage in that climate?

2007-03-27 12:57:16 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science Anthropology

Very light skin is considered an advantage in cold climate with very little sunlight, according to scientists. We need sunlight to make vitamin D to live, and in a climate with very little sunlight, light skin allows you to better absorb sun's rays.

2007-03-27 13:00:19 · update #1

on a website about albino people, it said that there are varying degrees of albinism. some forms are more severe than others. Blue eyes can be a symptom of albinism, as well as blonde or red hair, green or red eyes. What if there was an original African population, that migrated to Europe ssome half a million or more years ago. Then one or two albinos born within this population found themselves to be better survivors in the harsh and cold European environment. the darker skinned people died out over time, leaving a population of albino, white homo sapiens. These people were naturally selected for high nasal bridges and smaller mouths. straighter hair was selected over coarse. These facial features can and do exist in African/Black popoulations, so couldnt this be the race was formed, scientifically speaking? I know this is just a theory, but it makes logical sense once you get past the part that albism is considered a defect.

2007-03-27 14:25:33 · update #2

13 answers

NO! "White people" came about as humans migrated into colder regions. They adapted, and developed mutations from environmental pressures. THAT is how traits appear. The particular environmental pressure that caused adaptation was the lower levels of light available in Europe, compared to Africa. These early "Europeans" developed a lighter skin color because humans need a certain amount of vitamin D to remain healthy. Vitamin D is produced by the liver, and is dependent on the amount of sun exposure humans get. Humans with dark skin will develop bone diseases in low light areas (this was demonstrated when African slaves were first brought to England. They quickly developed rickets, a bone disease caused by a lack of vitamin D). Melanin is the chemical in the skin that affects skin color. The more melanin a person has, the darker the skin. Over time, humans in Europe developed less melanin, which also affects hair and eye color.
And you are mistaken. Of course environmental pressures can effect changes in genes (genetic mutations). THAT is what "natural selection" IS. Mutations occur randomly because of environmental pressures. Albinos would not have been "selected" as "more fit" even in a far northern environment, because they have far too little melanin for ANY environment. Too much vitamin D is just as harmful as having too little. And it takes approximately 1000 generations to bring about a complete change in skin color from black to white.

2007-03-27 20:59:35 · answer #1 · answered by wendy g 7 · 2 1

Albinism is a genetic disorder that occurs in all races and most animals :


Albinism is a genetic disorder; it is not an infectious disease and cannot be transmitted through contact, blood transfusions, etc. The principal gene which results in albinism prevents the body from making the usual amounts of the pigment melanin. Most forms of albinism are the result of the biological inheritance of genetically recessive alleles (genes) passed from both parents of an individual, though some rare forms are inherited from only one parent. There are other genetic mutations which are proven to be associated with albinism. All alterations, however, lead to changes in melanin production in the body.[1

2007-03-28 11:10:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Albinism is the genetic inability to produce melanin, the pigment in our skin. Albinos can be found in any population and often have other medical problems. From an evolutionary viewpoint, it is non-adaptive.

"Whites" are not albino--simply have less pigmentation than other populations. There are albinos with "White" parents.

Despite the intuitiveness of the idea, albinos are not the ancestors of "White" populations.

2007-03-29 13:03:38 · answer #3 · answered by WolverLini 7 · 0 0

Albinism is a recessive genetic disorder. As of now there are about 3000 such genetic disorders. It occurs when both the parents carrying the same recessive allele marry and the probability of the incidence of the disease in off sprigs of such parents is 25%.

2007-03-28 18:27:50 · answer #4 · answered by anne j 2 · 0 0

Albinism is usually caused by a gene that eliminates pigments from expressing.

If technology did not exist, and dark skinned people moved to scandanavia, in 10,000 years they probably would have light skin.

The opposite is not true, however, as light skin is a lack of genes, and it's hard to mutate BACK to a previous condition.

2007-03-28 07:06:26 · answer #5 · answered by LabGrrl 7 · 0 1

of course you probably did no longer examine sufficient suitable to the subject. White easily everyone isn't lacking pigment as albinos are. they're purely as distinctive from black human beings as the different race is in the worldwide. Edit: "White" easily everyone seems to be colored the way they're by using fact they progressed in a community of the planet that had much less direct sunlight (Northern Europe). Lighter epidermis facilitates the physique to technique nutrition A with the smaller quantity of sunlight that those human beings have been familiar with. Peoples closer to the equator or lived in aspects with better quantities of sunlight had darker epidermis to react in a distinctive thank you to sunlight. Albinism is likewise discovered interior something of the animal kingdom, no longer purely human beings. What are you suggesting with them? All races of human beings on the earth have motives to seem the way they do. i be attentive to that one and all races progressed from a version of what we see at present as "black" human beings. I have no reason to no longer have self belief that. yet albinism is a thoroughly distinctive project than changes on a conventional topic.

2016-10-20 02:24:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Albinism (from Latin albus; extended etymology), more technically hypomelanism or hypomelanosis, is a form of hypopigmentary congenital disorder, characterized by a lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair (or more rarely the eyes alone).

It has nothing to do with race, rather it is genetic and can affect Blacks, Whites, Hispanics etc.

2007-03-27 13:02:37 · answer #7 · answered by bigej65 3 · 3 1

No. The white race is probably "depigmented" because of the necessity of getting Vitamin D in a place where there is not as much sun or because they simply did not need the pigment to prevent sun damage in northern climes.
Albinos are completely depigmented, even their eyes.

2007-03-28 16:33:42 · answer #8 · answered by fatboycool 4 · 0 0

No, it is a genetic mutation. No mystery here. It doesn't happen very often and certainly makes life difficult for the albino. They have a hard time fitting in anywhere, bad eyesight, and quickly sunburn because of the lack of pigment in their skin.

2007-03-27 13:03:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3 1

Being albino is a rare skin diorder in which your body produces no melanin. Melanin is the skin pigment which you color. Whites have less melanin than blacks.

2007-03-27 13:03:17 · answer #10 · answered by chenelle o 2 · 3 1

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