eye color
- Thread starter Xev
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SAM had a pretty good link on this last time it came up.
That one started with the observation taht humans in fact don't have much variety in eye color - except for the humans from a little corner of the Eurasian continent more or less centered around Switzerland.
Everyone else, the billions and billions living on six continents for tens of thousands of years, have some shade of dark brown in their irises.
IIRC the explanation was that we were guppies. It made sense, at the time.
That one started with the observation taht humans in fact don't have much variety in eye color - except for the humans from a little corner of the Eurasian continent more or less centered around Switzerland.
Everyone else, the billions and billions living on six continents for tens of thousands of years, have some shade of dark brown in their irises.
IIRC the explanation was that we were guppies. It made sense, at the time.
Guppies?
I wanted to steer away from the observation that whites seem to vary most in coloration, because that sort of thing just goes nowhere here.
But I know of Indians who have blue eyes, and African Americans like my friend 'Tiba who have hazel eyes.
madanthony,
It's really about time this theory was sent to its grave.
Skin colour is not an adaptation to sunlight levels as is evident in the Tasmanian aborigines who are still black after living more than 40,000 years in Tasmania - a country with a climate similar to Britain. There are so many ridiculous theories floating around on why people have different skin colours and all of them are designed to hide the fact that pale skin is the weakest in terms of elasticity and resistance to sunlight, ie, it is not a positive adaptation/mutation and therefore does not fit into the concept of 'evolution' as defined by the Western World.
The correct observation is that over thousands of years people with pale skins migrated to areas of the world where it is most comfortable for them to live.
(PS: Skin colors only change through breeding)
Mod note: Infraction given for trolling (3 points); please do not post your personal opinions as scientific claims
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You do know that most great apes have fur? Although the skin of the gorilla is pretty much black, the chimp's skin can be described as fair. In orangutans the skin colour varies with age.
Eye colour can also vary in primates. There is nothing remotely unique about it. It's just that variation is tied to melanin content, which is often high in most primates leading to dark eyes.
Japanese macaques have a range from orange, shades of yellow and hazel-blue to dark blue.
here is a blue-eyed lemur for you:
A green eyed monkey:
You can't compare apples with pears.
Humans are not unique in eye colour variation in primates. Nor in skin colour variation.
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So your saying that Tasmanian Aborigines have not been living in Tasmania for more than 40,000 years?
If so your position is completely contrary to the current scientific evidence and you would need to bring forward extraordinary scientific proof to support this.
If it isn't then your statement 'All of it' is contradictory and you need to clarify.
Cool pictures. I was accepting the OP as correct with respect to other primates, obviously it was not.
Anyway, my answer with respect to humans still holds. And regarding the Tasmanian Aborigines, it's obviously not impossible for those with dark skin to live in northern climates. Light skin is an advantage in the north, and dark skin is an advantage in the south. I really don't know enough about Tasmania to comment on the specific situation there. But every population is not necesarily maximally adapted to its enviroment. Other factors, and random chance, obviously can come into play.
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apparently light is also important in the production of folate. Abnormal levels can result in developmental defects.
Light might work on more than one level.
Melanin has also been connected to immune defense against parasites. Which would be more important in tropical areas.
doubt we have a definite answer.
Light might work on more than one level.
Melanin has also been connected to immune defense against parasites. Which would be more important in tropical areas.
doubt we have a definite answer.
Spuriousmonkey:
Awwww! They're so cute!
That'll teach me to post about random drunk conversations I have.
So why do those monkeys have a range of eye colors? Presumably they all share more or less the same climate, if the light eyes for less light hypothesis was true, wouldn't they all have light eyes?
I think that applies to any of those hypothesis.
Awwww! They're so cute!
That'll teach me to post about random drunk conversations I have.
So why do those monkeys have a range of eye colors? Presumably they all share more or less the same climate, if the light eyes for less light hypothesis was true, wouldn't they all have light eyes?
I think that applies to any of those hypothesis.
My partner has two differnet eyecllors: right eye is blue, left one is green...joke of Mother Nature 
funny thing to think about is why we humans want an explenation for everything? Maybe eyecolor is just a sort of variation that doesn't make any sense. Not everything in life should be explained. The thing is that human can't realy deal with things tht are useless.
Think about that before you to bed, girls
Think about that before you to bed, girls
Primates are good at seeing color. They need to to distinguish between ripe and unripe fruit etc.
This can lead to other selectional pressures such as sexual selection.
Might remember the story on the evolution of red skin in primates due to sexual selection and the ability to see colours.
The melanin thing is probably largely true though. It is just that it doesn't always have to be true.
And it can even be that eye colour was under the pressure of sexual selection at one point in human history, and that this caused a transition to 'light' selection, although this seleciton was then directed at skin, but had a side effect on the eye. Or vice versa, or both, or both intermingled. Or none of the above.
True, but people with blue eyes see just as well as those with brown, correct?
Perhaps pupil dilation (sexual interest?) is easier to guage in people with lighter colored eyes. Or perhaps it is some way of figuring out how close kin one is.
No, but I will google it.