If blond, red, and light brown hair and blue, green, grey and hazel eyes and light skin are recessive, how did they become so common among those of European descent? Did geography play a role in this adaptation? Perhaps due to climate that is colder and more cloudy most of the time they developed less pigment in their skin, hair and eyes?
131514
dominance or recessiveness have nothing to do with what is selected, it only affects expression in the individual, this can be a tough concept to get, but basically if a gene is recessive it doesn't mean its better or worse than the alternative genes out there, it could be either. Recessive/dominant doesn't mean rare/common.
582361
Your dad carried one recessive gene for green eyes, which his gene for brown eyes was dominant, so he shows that he has brown eyes.  you got one recessive gene from your mother, and the recessive gene from your dad, making you show for recessive, making you have green-blue eyes. the same way worked for your son
156408
It's very possible. My best friend is Native American, and she is as blue eyed/blonde as them come. Recessive genes can toss you through a loop. Give him the benefit.
364222
I will say idefinitely that about 95% of Hispanics have med brown, dark brown or black eyed color. Our hair is typically medium brown to dark, we also have people with blonde and red hair..not too often. Many just dyed the hair lighter but is not the "typical" Hispanic hair color.\n\nThere is also Hispanics with green eyes and the most unusual color is blue.  It really depends the country. For example most Mexicans/Peruvian/Colombian have brown eyes(I will say about 98%)  but   Argentinian, Uruguyan, Spanish have higher % of people with green and blue eyes. It really depends the history in the heritage (ex.more Spanish, indian descendentsetc). I hope it helps to answer your question. I personally very fair skin  and I am 100% Hispanic some people think Iam caucacian, so it really depends
208439
Funny question, I thought the same thing until and Asian friend told me that we white people looked all the same to her while she could tell differences among Asians.\n\nBut the real answer to your question is that whites are not pure white either. If you look at full Caucasians, they are all blonde with blue eyes. It's when people started migrating all over and getting mixed that all this diversity started to show up. \nAlso, dark colors tend to be dominant genes so they "stick" more.
446345
I heard that, and I heard the same thing about Blue eyes.  Most reputable sources say it is wrong, but it seems to make sense to me.  Blonde hair and blue eyes are recessive traits and you'd think the dominant traits would eventually take over in the human race.  That's evolution, right? But who knows.  Science has been wrong before.
222588
Each wavy-haired Caucasian would have a Gene for curly hair, (C) and a Gene for strait hair,(S). So\nCS, CS\nCC, CS ,SC,SS\n\nThe CS and SC would have wavy hair, so each offspring would have a 50% chance of having wavy hair. \n\nMost likely half the offspring would have wavy hair, but all combinations are possible with every pregnancy.
473869
Well, let`s see. My mom is hispanic and has hazel eyes and very black hair with medium skin. My dad is anglo and has black hair and green eyes and medium skin. My sister has brown eyes and black hair with a little darker skin, my brother brown hair and green eyes with medium skin, and I have grey eyes and reddish brown hair with medium skin. My mom`s sister is darker than her and all her kids turned out darker than us with black hair and brown eyes. Her husband was anglo also with brown hair and blue eyes. So what you get is a luck of the draw.
478374
It's genetic in most people.\n\nThe second main cause is a change in melanin levels in one eye, this can be because of illness or trauma to the head.\n\nFor others a trauma to the head can jolt the blood vessels in the eye causing a change in colour
348984
I am punjabi, so albeit, i am a little bit biased. Historically, you're right, in that north indian people are considered to be caucasian, and the best looking. Although in recent anthropological defintions races have become more specialized, ultimately, it is just the original 4. In terms of eye color and hair difference, it is important to note that our hair color and eye color does not have anything to do with race; rather, race is based on hair texture and eye shape (amongst other things). The reason for this is because color for both is contingent of climate. It is a response for necessary sun protection.\n\nSouth indian people consider themselves to be the 'true' indians, because (although it pains me to admit it), they are. They were the first people of the land, while north indian people emigrated thousands of years ago. That is also why, often they look a little different (particularly bone structure---punjabi's a bigger), because they lack genetic variation.\n\ninteresting question--good luck in your history class. I hope my thoughts helped.\n\njai hind!
58484
-Albinism (from Latin albus, meaning "white") is a lack of pigmentation in the eyes, skin and hair. It is an inherited condition resulting from the combination of recessive alleles passed from both parents of an individual. This condition is known to affect mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. While the most common term for an individual affected by albinism is "albino", some of them prefer "person with albinism", because "albino" is often used in a derogatory way. A humorous compensation for this was the invention of the word "pigmento" for a normally pigmented person.\n\nIf you are asking how they act, its exactly the same as a normal person.  Anyway here is some more info.\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism
5365
Eye color is a complicated trait, because it is controlled by several genes. It is likely that all of the genes have not yet been found. So far, scientists have a model in which one gene can either be blue or brown, with brown being dominant, and the other gene being blue or green and green being dominant. The brown trait from the first gene overrides either blue or green on the second. So, if someone has the brown trait, they have brown eyes. This model obviously fails to explain hazel, gray, and various other multi-shaded eye colors.\n\nWhat these genes do is turn on melanin production in the eye, the same thing that determines skin color. The more melanin, the darker the eyes. The reason a baby's eye color changes is it is born with very little melanin, both in its skin and in its eyes. As it is exposed to sun, melanin production increases until they've reached the skin and eye color their genes code for.\n\nThis is unrelated to hair color, which is controlled by several genes as well.
514117
Amazing the natural selection process.  Originating form the times when we were living lifestyles more exposed to the weather, they help keep foreign materials from falling in our eyes.  Tree leaves, dust, rain, etc, coming from above us.\n\nTake a look at some of the earlier life forms, Neanderthals for example. see how thick their eye-brows, how deep their eye sockets are.
345590
Through a variety of mechanisms, gene flow, mutations, etc... allele frequencies in populations change over time. Some genes are favored while others are not this is how selection and evolution, as it were, work. \n\nSay that there is an organism that has two dominant phenotypes, one green and the other bright purple. If for some reason being one color or the other affects that organisms ability survive and reproduce, then organisms with the preferred phenotype will end up creating a larger percentage of the offspring that those without it. IN this way the population will be directionally selected towards the "preferred" phenotype, in this case say purple makes you more attractive to mates so therefore you reproduce more than others of your species that are green.\n\nThe interesting thing is that this is not a one way street and there is no end... this is because the environment is always changing and what was preferred before might be selected against in the future. In this way DNA is always and will always be changing and in that way evolving.
105550
my own understanding to this is - and i might be wrong - it has an affect. i based this on Albinos, they lack pegimintation (melinen) in their skin and eyes (which gives them pink or red eye colour) and they have major eye-sight problems and sun can affect them alot. so i would assume the less pigement u have (i.e. blue) the greater affect u will have by sun (even if it is very little) but surely there is a difference.
587607
Genes don't skip anywhere!\n\nBut eye colour is determined by at least three genes, not just one. So it gets a bit complex. See below.
103309
I typed albino deer into Google search.\n\nAlbino: Among the questions most often asked are "What causes some deer to be albinos?" "How common are they?" "Are they protected?" and "Can they reproduce?" Albinism is a recessive trait found in mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and even plants. These plants and animals do not have the gene for normal coloration and do not produce the enzyme responsible for skin, hair and tissue coloration. Albinism is the total absence of body pigment. The eyes of an albino are pink, because blood vessels behind the lenses show through the unpigmented irises. As you might guess, albinism is not a desirable trait for either predators or prey species. Being totally white year-round makes concealment difficult. Also, many albinos have poor eyesight. In the game of life, where survival of the fittest is the rule, albinos have a strike against them from the start. Perhaps that is why albinos are rare.Because albinism is a recessive trait, both parents must carry the gene before it can occur in their offspring. An albino deer bred to another albino would have only albinos. An albino bred to a normal deer with no recessive genes for albinism would produce all normally pigmented deer. Offspring from this cross would carry the recessive gene for albinism but would be normally colored. When carriers of albinism breed there is a one-in-four chance they will produce an albino fawn. Recessive genetic traits typically become less common unless they confer a survival advantage or are artificially enhanced through selective breeding. Based on hunter reports, about one deer in 30,000 is an albino. Not all white deer are true albinos. Some white whitetails have normally pigmented noses, eyes and hooves. This is a genetic mutation for hair color but not other pigments.