How Rare Is Ginger Hair And Blue Eyes?

How Rare Is Ginger Hair And Blue Eyes
Are redheads with blue eyes really going extinct? For every 100 people in the world, only one or two will have red hair. And when you meet a red head with blue eyes, you are looking at the rarest colour combination of all for human beings. The odds of having both red hair and blue eyes sits at around 0.17 per cent. Picture: Shutterstock Around 17 per cent of people have blue eyes, and when combined with, the odds of having both traits are around 0.17 per cent. That’s, out of the 7.6 billion on Earth.

So with numbers this low, could redheads with blue eyes actually go extinct?
The reason these looks are so unusual is because they are the result of two different sets of DNA instructions, or mutations, happening in the same person, explains Professor Mark Elgar, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Melbourne.
“The mutations occurred tens of thousands of years ago, and have now become established as different versions or variants of the genes that help determine our skin and eye colour.

“Red hair and blue eyes are both recessive traits which means a person needs to inherit both of the genes for red hair and blue eyes, from both parents. In contrast, brown hair and brown eyes are dominant traits, which is why they are much more prevalent.” In some regions of the world, red heads are more common, making up 10-30 per cent of the population in for example.

Blue-eyed people are also more common in the Baltic regions of Northern Europe. “There are a number of ways rare traits can be lost from a population,” says Professor Elgar. “A common misconception is that when a trait is rare, it could be lost through a dilution effect – the few individuals that carry the gene don’t reproduce, and so it is lost to future generations.

“But although it is recessive, red hair is unlikely to suffer from this effect. Even when we can’t always see red hair, many people still carry the genes. Red hair can range from strawberry blonde to the deepest auburn. Picture: Shutterstock “Another case is where a gene reduces an individual’s chance of reproducing, perhaps by increasing the risk of early mortality, and again, these genes would become rarer over successive generations,” he explains.

Is ginger hair the rarest?

5 facts about redheads on World Redhead Day

by: WFLA
Posted: May 27, 2019 / 02:48 AM EDT
Updated: May 27, 2019 / 02:48 AM EDT

Got red hair? Today is your day to celebrate!

Today is World Redhead Day,
It’s not clear where this holiday got its start, but it’s become an integral part of the unofficial holiday’s calendar.
To help you celebrate, here are four fun facts about redheads:

Less than 2 percent of the world’s population has red hair, making it the rarest hair color in the world. It’s the result of the mutated MC1R gene. If both parents carry that gene, their child has a 25% chance of getting lovely, red locks, even if the parents don’t have red hair themselves.
Red hair will never turn, Instead, the pigment simply fades over time. Redheads usually end up with blonde or silvery white hair when they get older.
Redheads have less hair on their heads. On average, someone with red hair has 90,000 strands of hair. Blonds have 110,000 strands of hair on average and brunettes have the most with 140,000 strands of hair.
Being a man with red hair though could mean a lower risk for prostate cancer. A study found men with naturally red hair were 54% less likely to develop prostate cancer, compared to other men with blond, brown or black hair.
Red hair isn’t the only thing that’s rare. A high portion of people who are left-handed are also redheads.

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Are gingers left-handed?

From deep burgundy to bright copper, red hair is beautiful and November 5 – National Redhead Day – is all about celebrating the fiery gift you bring to the world. How Rare Is Ginger Hair And Blue Eyes Actress-comedian Lucille Ball is shown in a restaurant in New York City on Feb.11, 1979. (AP Photo) ASSOCIATED PRESS Here are 10 reasons why being a redhead is awesome: 1. Only 2 percent of the world’s population has red hair. Redheads are are magical unicorns or pink Starburst.2.

You have your own festival. The festival, called Roodharigendag (in Dutch) takes place in The Netherlands, and it is attended by thousands of people with natural red hair.3. You can produce your own vitamin D. According to Health Magazine, redheads can produce their own vitamin D when exposed to low levels of light.4.

You may not need as much pain medication. The gene responsible for red hair (MC1R) also releases a hormone that is similar to endorphins which limit the feeling of pain. This means that redheads need less painkillers to treat ailments.5. Redheads don’t go gray.

Red hair initially tends to turn blond and then white.6. People with red hair are more likely to be left-handed. Recessive traits often happen in pairs so commonly people with the gene for red hair also possess the trait for left-handedness.7. You may have more fun between the sheets. Red is known as provocative color, and a study by a German researcher found that women with red hair have sex more often.

According to studies about psychology and evolution, that gives them a competitive advantage in the romance and courting department.8. Blue eyed redheads are super rare. Blue eyes and red hair forms the rarest combo on earth. Most (natural) redheads will have brown eyes, followed by hazel or green shades.9.

Redheads are natural muses.
Art history shows us that many painters chose to depict muses with red hair, such as The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.10.
Red hair is thicker than other colors.
Each strand of red hair is generally thicker than other shades which compensates for the fact that redheads have less hair.

Is golden hair rare?

General – Blond hair is most common in light-skinned infants and children, so much so that the term “baby blond” is often used for very light colored hair. Babies may be born with blond hair even among groups where adults rarely have blond hair, although such natural hair usually falls out quickly.

Blond hair tends to turn darker with age, and many children’s blond hair turns light, medium, or dark brown, before or during their adult years. Because blond hair tends to turn brown with age, natural blond hair is significantly less common in adulthood; according to the sociologist Christie Davies, only around five percent of adults in Europe and North America are naturally blond.

A study conducted in 2003 concluded that only four percent of American adults are naturally blond. A significant number of Caucasian women dye their hair blonde, perhaps a higher percentage than for any other hair color.

What is the most common eye colors for redheads?

Brown eyes are the most common (natural) redhead eye colour, followed by hazel or green tints. The combination of having both red hair and blue eyes is so rare because blue eye color is also a recessive trait, meaning both parents must carry the gene for a child to have it.

Can a ginger have blue eyes?

For every 100 people in the world, only one or two will have red hair. And when you meet a red head with blue eyes, you are looking at the rarest colour combination of all for human beings. The odds of having both red hair and blue eyes sits at around 0.17 per cent. Picture: Shutterstock Around 17 per cent of people have blue eyes, and when combined with 1-2 per cent having red hair, the odds of having both traits are around 0.17 per cent.

That’s 13 million people, out of the 7.6 billion on Earth.
So with numbers this low, could redheads with blue eyes actually go extinct? The reason these looks are so unusual is because they are the result of two different sets of DNA instructions, or mutations, happening in the same person, explains Professor Mark Elgar, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Melbourne.