• Question: why do people have different coloured skin?

    Asked by lucie to Fiona, Jane, Joanna, Michelle, William on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by adamrussell.
    • Photo: Michelle Murphy

      Michelle Murphy answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Skin colour is created by different amounts of melanin in your skin calls reflecting light differently. People with more melanin have darker skin and those with less are paler.
      It is thought that as humans evolved in Africa it is thought that we were all originally dark skinned because dark skin helps to protect against the sun and skin cancer. As humans spread to other parts of the world the dark skin was not needed as much, so melanin became less important to survival. So in countries further from the equator where it is not as hot people developed lighter skins as they did not face the same pressure to protect themselves from the sun. I have really pale skin and fry in the sun without a high factor sun cream.

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hello! People have different coloured skin because they have different amounts of melanin – a pigment that absorbs light found in humans, animals and plants. If you have lots of melanin your skin will be much darker, whereas if you have less melanin your skin will be much lighter. Usually people in cold climates have less melanin because there is not as much light to absorb.

    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      It depends on the levels of the skin pigment melanin what colour your skin is. I think it probably originates depending on where you come from, as if you are from somewhere sunny-before there were sunscreens etc if would have been advantageous to have natural protection from the sun in the form of darker skin.

    • Photo: William Davies

      William Davies answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Skin colour depends upon the concentration of a chemical called melanin. The levels of this chemical are determined by which genes you inherit from your parents

    • Photo: Jane Henry

      Jane Henry answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Depends on the amount of melanin they have in their skin. More in darker skinned peoples, to protect them better from the sun, less in peoples inhabitating cold climates, maybe helps them make vit D easier where less sun, but check that.

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