• Question: why do humans have different skin tones?

    Asked by emmer_lmao to Andy, Dwaine, Natt, Priya, Tatiana on 20 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Natt Day

      Natt Day answered on 20 Jun 2015:

      Hi,

      The reason there are multiple skin tones is very similar to the reason why humans have different hair colours: it’s all controlled by the melanin pigment. Melanin producing cells called melanocytes produce both eumelanin (the darker pigment) and pheomelanin (the lighter, red pigment) which is what causes the skin colouration. Each individual will have different levels of eumelanin/pheomelanin made in their skin cells– which is controlled by many different genes– leading to the different skin tones we see!

      Natt

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