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Originally posted by Racist
reply to post by jiggerj
In humans, melanin is the primary determinant of skin hair and iris color.
Where humans originated, or what skin color, or what the climate factors, were at this origin who knows.
Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005
Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.
The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races...
By Nadra Kareem Nittle
About.com Guide
January 29, 2011
Imagine a world where everyone had brown skin. Tens of thousands of years ago, that was the case, say scientists at Penn State University. So, how did white people get here?
Evidently, when humans began leaving Africa 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, a skin-whitening mutation appeared randomly in a sole individual. That mutation proved advantageous as humans moved into Europe. Why? Because it upped the amount of vitamin D the migrants had...
Originally posted by jiggerj
I'm no expert, so if anyone has a better theory please post.
We know that chimps have white skin under their fur. This makes me think that the hairy pre-humans living in Africa also had white skin under their fur. If this species had stayed in Africa I'm guessing they would never have lost the fur as a protection from the sun.