Book 2, Question 96
Why Do People Have Different Skin Colors?
Everyone has skin, and skin comes in many beautiful colors. Everyone has melanin, a natural pigment in their skin. Different amounts change how skin looks.
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 2
More fun facts
- Melanin gives color to your skin, your eyes, and your hair.
- The more melanin your body makes, the darker your skin, eyes, and hair.
- How much melanin you make depends on your genes and on how much sun your ancestors lived with.
- Scientists measured the skin color of over 2,000 people across Africa to study how skin color evolved.
- They found that people with light and dark skin have lived side by side for hundreds of thousands of years.
- The story of how skin color evolved turned out to be much more complicated than scientists once thought.
Sources: Cleveland Clinic, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
Does everyone have melanin?
Yes. Everyone has melanin. Different amounts give people different skin, hair, and eye colors.