People have different skin colors because of something called melanin 🌈. Melanin is like a special paint inside our skin that makes it light or dark. Some people have more melanin, so their skin is darker. Others have less, so their skin is lighter. It's like how some flowers are red and others are yellow—everyone is beautiful in their own way! 😊
Our skin color also helps protect us from the sun ☀️. Darker skin keeps us safer in very sunny places, while lighter skin helps us get more sunshine in places where it's not so sunny.
Our skin color comes from a pigment called melanin 🌍. The more melanin you have, the darker your skin will be. This happens because of where our ancestors lived long ago. People from sunny, hot places (like Africa) developed darker skin to protect them from the sun’s strong rays. People from colder, less sunny places (like Europe) developed lighter skin to help their bodies make enough vitamin D from sunlight.
It’s like nature’s way of adapting! Over thousands of years, humans moved to different parts of the world, and their skin changed to match their environment 🌞❄️.
Skin tone variation is primarily due to melanin, a pigment produced by cells called melanocytes. The amount and type of melanin (eumelanin for darker tones, pheomelanin for lighter tones) determine skin color. This adaptation is linked to UV radiation exposure. Near the equator, high UV levels favored darker skin to prevent DNA damage and reduce folate depletion. In higher latitudes, lighter skin evolved to allow sufficient vitamin D synthesis in low sunlight.
Genetics also play a role—over 100 genes influence skin color! Migration and mixing of populations over centuries have created the beautiful diversity we see today 🌎.
Did you know? Albinism occurs when melanin production is reduced or absent, resulting in very light skin and hair.