As humans come in all different shades of colour, is it possible....?

Question

that we all evolved from different species of primate? Sorry, probably an obvious answer, but I was just wondering...

Answer 1

No, that would mean that we are different species (an area we don't want to go into). Actually, all of that which makes us all human is exactly the same for all humans.

What makes our skin color and other features so different are evolution processes. Our bodies have adjusted to our environements. Skin color is a great example of this. People who spent thousands of years in more sun exposure are generally darker than those with less exposure. This is because of the melanin in the skin. It works as a sort of permanent sun screen protecting us from damage and cancers.

However, did you know that our bodies produce 90% of the Vitamin D that we need? It produces it from sunlight. So, people who live in more northern climates that have more fog and rain and less sunshine throughout the year, need to collect what they can for Vitamin D production. So, they don't have as much melanin in their skin. It is kind of a balancing act. Here is a great article that talks about it further: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0211/feature2/online_extra.html

But it doesn't stop with skin color. Eye color does a similar thing. People with blue eyes have less pigment in them. They can see in the dark and in fog much better than those with brown eyes. Although, those with brown eyes have less trouble in the sun.

Body shape and size is based on location too (when you take out the laziness and overeating factor we see these days). Those that live in northern climates tend to have more fat reserves that keep them warmer; whereas, those in equitorial areas are very lean. Most people in Africa have that very kinky/curley hair, because it allows for the wind to blow over the scalp and cool the body more efficiently.

Of course, these are just a few of the fascinating ways our bodies have adjusted to our environments. As time goes on and the world becomes a smaller place because of transportation and technology, these things will become more muddled. But it will take thousands of years to see any real noticable changes without interbreeding of races.

Answer 2

Actually the reasons humans come in all different colors are because of a substance in you're body called melanome. The more melanome you have the darker you're skin is. The sun gives of some melanome , which makes you're skin appear darker hence why you get a tan. Some humans species are darker skin because of their races exposure to the sun, no other theories can be proved until back to the dawn of time.

Answer 3

Not likely, I could suggest that we evolved from a single primate that had a variety of skin colors, but that is most unlikely.
We, as humans and not as hominids / primates evolved to have different color shade as a response to our settling in different climates, and to live in colder climates we needed to master the use of fire, tools and cover our skin, and we could not do it without sufficient mental capacity.
so multiple skin colors is the sign of humans.

Answer 4

We did not evolve from seperate primate species, otherwise we would not be able to reproduce between different ethnic (colour) groups today, and that is clearly not the case. Our differences in skin tones is because of evolution. Ultimately the driving force of evolution is reproductive success and while there is a variance in every population the overall tone will drift to what is best suited for each environment over generations. As is seen across the globe, there is the general rule that people who live in equatorial regions are darkest and this blends until artic areas are reached where people are the lightest. Like I said, the reason why this was prehistorically was because of reproductive sucess. For instance at equatorial areas the harsh uv rays from the sun breakdown certain vitamins and chemicals that are active in the operations in the human body. As was pointed out earlier one of these is vitamin B, but the most important chemical that is broken down by sunlight as far as reproduction is concerned is folic acid. Folic acid is crucial to rapid cell development so if an extremely light skinned individuals are habituating in tropical regions the males will experience a reduction in their sperm count, and women would experience more miscarriages because Folic acid is extremely important for foetal development. Conversly, as was pointed out, dark people habituating in northern hemisphere localities will have a reduced absorption of vitamin d which is also important for foetal development and for general health which would cause a reproductive discrepancy that would cause this darker toned characteristic to have been selected against.

Another medical condition that is often pointed at in this discussion is cancer, but in fact cancer has very little effect on reproductive sucess because the majority of cancer ocurrs after reproduction, and as of such, would not effect reproductive success in the same way as the previous examples.

Now, earlier I mentioned "in prehistoric times", and that was on purpose. Our knowledge and technology has already deafeated these prehistoric influences on skin colour from having an effect on reproductive sucess in modern times. Light toned people living in tropical areas can simply take vitamin b/folic acid supplements as well as use sunscreen to block the intensity of uv in breaking down the chemicals/vitamins that are important for reproduction and dark toned people living in northern environments don't even particularily need to focus on taking supplements because even in the winter, when their vitamin d deficiency should be the worst, the contemporary supermarket is full of imported fresh produce and milk both of which allow an ample offset to any loss of vitamin d that may be experienced.

So into the future this selective pressure will no longer be an issue and if all populations mixed then we would just be a widely varied mix of colour everywhere around the globe that would be primarily brown in tone and there would be no reason for colour to be selected for in either direction so long as darker toned people continued to eat their produce and lighter toned people remembered to take their folic acid and wear sunscreen.

Answer 5

easy answer is that we did not evolve. We were created by a loving caring God (of the Bible that is). Do you really believe that we all started from a spec of dust and bang we were here after millions of years? If that be the case why are there still apes? wouldn't they have evolved as well? If you take the time to read the Bible it will explain many of the questions you have about history and why things have happened. EG Noah's flood wiping out many animals and people, also shaping the earth they way it is. Also the Jews/Israelites helping build the pyramids. many of these stories in the bible will help you. Just for the record the only way a bone can become a fossil is if it dies and is buried within a day to stop it decomposing. This would happen in the case of a global flood.

If we did evolve they why have the never been able to find the missing link between ape and humans? maybe because there is none. Evolution is just something dreamt up by Charles Darwin withing the last few hundred years.

Answer 6

It's possible, but it's among the least likely explanations, and it has absolutely no evidence to support it.

It's much more likely, and is a notion supported by all the evidence out there, that people of the same species, with the same evolutionary ancestry, normally have different skin tones, for whatever reason.

Answer 7

Does the fact that Bull Dogs come with different fur colors mean they evolved from different kinds of wolves?

Skin color is a small difference when you look at all the different similarities between different people. We all have a common hominid ancestor whose descendants acquired different shades of skin color due to the environment they lived in.

Answer 8

As on today we have not seen all shades of skins. The existing skin shades are due to melanin content which depends on geographical factors. But, we have done cloning, gene interpretation, so many things we have done against to the nature. If scientists thinks about this, it may be possible.

Answer 9

You must have a lot of inbreeding in your family. Do some elementary research before you ask a question.
Humans did not evolve from primates.

Answer 10

since humans DNA is exactly 98.6 percent the same as a monkey, and because we have remnants of different humanoids bridging the gap, it think completely accurate for any intelligent person to make this assertion. creationism is simply delusional and fictitious, kind of like saying the world is flat.