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Are there other human traits like light skin which people developed to adapt to the "new" environment they settled in? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm referring to the human race evolving in the African continent and then migrating to the rest of the world.

Evolving in Europe made people light skinned to account for the reduction in sunlight exposure, are there any other traits which other ethnicities developed to adapt to their new environment? Or are the diifferent traits in different ethnicities just stuff that developed by chance and got somehow reinforced because of the isolation between populations?

This question came to my mind first thinking about "Asian eyes", do they serve any "purpose"?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Is there much sand in Asia?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

The Middle East and the Gobi desert come to mind. Asia is pretty big.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Middle easterners don't have Asian eyes though.

[–] arthur 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That trait didn't appear in the region, so it could not be selected. It appeared in the east Asia, and were selected.

Someone also commented that we don't have conclusive evidence that some of those characteristics are adaptations to the environment, and could be just genetic drifts. So the shape of the eyes may be just a coincidence and not a real advantage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

It looks good, that's a pretty big advantage.