WhoIam
11-28-2006, 11:58 PM
I did a bit of searching on the net and didn't find anything so I thought I would come here. While I realize the prevailing opinion is that white people were created by an evil scientist on the moon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_of_islam#Teachings_on_race), I'm looking for something from an evolutionary perspective. Essentially my question is what is the advantage of having light-colored skin?
Presumably our original human ancestors in Africa had dark skin and brought this with them when they migrated. Although some early humans settled in areas with much less sunlight than Africa, this does not explain the lightening of skin because traits do not simply disappear when they are no longer necessary.
On the surface it would appear that white skin would be a disadvantage--one can easily get burned on sunny days and be far less productive while recovering. I've thought of two possible explanations. The first is that people with light skin could more efficient at synthesizing vitamin D and this confers an evolutionary advantage. The second, as un-PC as it is, would be sexual selection. Possibly those with lighter skin were culturally viewed as more attractive and therefore produced more offspring despite the disadvantage of light skin (similar to a peacock, for example).
Does anyone know anything about this topic?
edit: After reading through wikipedia's vitamin D article, I discovered out that a vitamin D deficiency can cause more severe problems than I realized. Also melanin screens out UV rays and consequently more sunlight is required to synthesize vitamin D. I may have just answered my own question.
Presumably our original human ancestors in Africa had dark skin and brought this with them when they migrated. Although some early humans settled in areas with much less sunlight than Africa, this does not explain the lightening of skin because traits do not simply disappear when they are no longer necessary.
On the surface it would appear that white skin would be a disadvantage--one can easily get burned on sunny days and be far less productive while recovering. I've thought of two possible explanations. The first is that people with light skin could more efficient at synthesizing vitamin D and this confers an evolutionary advantage. The second, as un-PC as it is, would be sexual selection. Possibly those with lighter skin were culturally viewed as more attractive and therefore produced more offspring despite the disadvantage of light skin (similar to a peacock, for example).
Does anyone know anything about this topic?
edit: After reading through wikipedia's vitamin D article, I discovered out that a vitamin D deficiency can cause more severe problems than I realized. Also melanin screens out UV rays and consequently more sunlight is required to synthesize vitamin D. I may have just answered my own question.