What is the Origin & Reason for Blue Eyes?
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Check Out Part 2 of this Series: Why Do Inuits Not Have Blue Eyes? The Reason for Blue Eyes (Part 2) • Why Do Inuits Not Have...
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What is the Origin & Reason for Blue Eyes?
Chapters:
0:00 Blue Eyes
1:44 Light Sensitivity
2:19 Origin of Blue Eyes
3:19 Theories on the Evolution of Blue Eyes
4:44 My Theory
6:54 What's Your Thoughts?
7:55 Support This Channel
When did blue eyes first develop and for what reason? Now I do have my own a theory about why blue eyes developed but I will share that at the end.
Firstly though, it does seem that all human beings initially had brown eyes, and they are still by far the most common eye colour today, with approximately 79% of people in the world having brown eyes. They result from a relatively high concentration of melanin in the stroma of the iris, which causes light of both shorter and longer wavelengths to be absorbed.
Blue eyes are much less common however, with approximately 8% to 10% of the global population having blue eyes. They are most common in Europe, particularly northern Europe, but found in people across the world, although many of these people have ancestry connected to Europe. This table shows the countries with the highest percentage of people with blue eyes in the world, led by Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Iceland.
Interestingly to note, there is no actual blue pigmentation either in the iris or in the vitreous body, as it is to do with how light is reflected. In people with blue eyes, longer wavelengths of light tend to be absorbed by the dark underlying epithelium, while shorter wavelengths are reflected and undergo Rayleigh scattering in the turbid medium of the stroma. This is the same scattering that accounts for the blue appearance of the sky. Blue eyes however do have lower concentrations of melanin in the stroma of the iris compared to brown eyes.
Now it does seem that blue eyes are more sensitive to light during the day, but are better at seeing in dim conditions compared to darker eyes. This is perhaps due to the lower levels of melanin in blue eyes. This logically makes sense as well.
Sources:
Does Eye Color Affect Vision? Does Eye Color Affect Vision? | Atlantic Eye Institute
Suarez, P., Baumer, K. & Hall, D. Further insight into the global variability of the OCA2-HERC2 locus for human pigmentation from multiallelic markers. Sci Rep 11, 22530 (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01...
Effect of iris pigmentation of blue and brown eyed individuals with European ancestry on ability to see in low light conditions after a short-term dark adaption period, Faith Erin Cain, Kyoko Yamaguchi 2024.01.17.576074; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.17.57...
List of cities in Europe by sunshine duration - Wikipedia
Eiberg H, Troelsen J, Nielsen M, Mikkelsen A, Mengel-From J, Kjaer KW, Hansen L. Blue eye color in humans may be caused by a perfectly associated founder mutation in a regulatory element located within the HERC2 gene inhibiting OCA2 expression. Hum Genet. 2008 Mar;123(2):177-87. doi: 10.1007/s00439-007-0460-x. Epub 2008 Jan 3. PMID: 18172690.
Olalde I. et al The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe. Nature. 2018 Mar 8;555(7695):190-196. doi: 10.1038/nature25738. Epub 2018 Feb 21. Erratum in: Nature. 2018 Mar 21;555(7697):543. PMID: 29466337; PMCID: PMC5973796.
Eye color - Wikipedia
People with brown EYES have a higher risk of developing winter depression - Mirror Online
Countries With The Most Blue-Eyed People - WorldAtlas
Why Did Blue Eyes Evolve? | Resource Center | Milan Eye Center
Melanin - Wikipedia
Western Hunter-Gatherer - Wikipedia
Eastern Hunter-Gatherer - Wikipedia
Sunrise and sunset times in Edinburgh, December 2023 (timeanddate.com)
Early European Farmers - Wikipedia
Creative Commons Imagery:
Velivieras File:Eye colors map of Europe.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed | Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International | Creative Commons
Matteo De Stefano/MUSE File:Homo sapiens - Neolithic - reconstruction - MUSE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed | Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported | Creative Commons
#blueyes #history #ancestry
Please let me know your thoughts below? Thanks for watching! 😀
Check Out Part 2 as well - Why Do Inuits Not Have Blue Eyes? The Reason for Blue Eyes (Part 2) czcams.com/video/-t3OHzUQ3qA/video.html
Read my comment
what about my blond eyebrows? I do have hazel blue eyes.
@@sandraclark3793 I don’t have an opinion
you want me to know what? You could be a trans for all I know. At least I present myself.?take a picture
@@sandraclark3793 GTFO you want me to what. Faceless. Impersonator.
Europe was particularly heavily forrested before the arrival of agricultural. Which would have further reduced light
Dense cloud cover reduces ambient Ultra Violet levels at ground level add to this what you have posted the dense forests further reducing ambient Ultra Violet levels at ground level.
The two combined can explain how blue eyes with a sensitivity to Ultra Violet thus enhanced vision with low ambient Ultra Violet at ground levels renders blue eyes a biological adaption that confers a survival advantage in pre-history before settled farming arrived in Europe.
I have crystal blue eyes. Under the canopy of the forest I was most comfortable, also, dawn and dusk. Amongst my friends who had brown and green eyes, I was able to see in the dark the best.
This is true. It is a fact
South east Asia and the congo and the amazon are heavily forested why the pymies didnt evolve blue eyes?
@@zerenx8272 Melanesians are in South East Asia and they have blue eyes. It is a quirk of a mutation though.
Blue eyes are an adaption to CLOUD. Cloudy climates are low-light so light skin and eyes are an adaption. The Inuit don't have blue eyes because although they have low light in the winter they don't live in a cloudy climate like Europe.
Winner!
Indeed, also snow I have heard. It has something to do with the reflection that causes snow blindness. I heard that blue helps with that, but Im no scientist so dont quote me on that one without checking it up.
@@GnosticAtheistno blue eyes would be worse for that bc melanin would protect more from reflective sun rays than blue. It would seem low light conditions plus sexual selection is for blue eyes rather than cold climate. Plus perhaps it was just unlucky for Inuit and other arctic peoples, at least in the Americas, they don’t have a large genetic variation and genetic mix and relatively new crossing over so they might not have had the time for blue eye development?
I've thought maybe it's the brightness of the snow that makes so many people from Northern latitudes have dark colored eyes.
Cool story, now do Sami people 😂
Makes sense, I'm comfortable walking about my house in the near dark, and I prefer lamps over bright ceiling lights, and start wearing sunglasses earlier in the year than other people, as the sun feels bright.
brown eye chads can stare into the sun no problem
blue eye virgins are built to stay at home 😂
I have green eyes and strong light bothers my eyes. Maybe that's why I prefer cloudy days.
Green eyes, but nyctalope.
The blue eyes are adapted for the north conditions of light. The peoples with this genetic living in the higher sun radiation often has the problems of view. In romania, many children with blue eyes needs the glasses from very young age, when those with brown never needs them.
Southern then 60°th parallel, the blue eyes aren't naturally adapted. The skin of this peoples often is sensitive too, so it catches very quickly the sun-burns becoming red and itchy, the caucasian being normally resistant.
@@maalikserebryakov blue eyed chads get all the women.
Estonian here. Estonians mostly have Gray/Silver eyes. I know that it is considered to be a shade of Blue, but you can deffenetly tell Blue from Gray appart!
Grey eyes are class
I was watching this video for a couple of minutes reading the closed captions before I realized that the video was in English. Lol
same, not a couple of minutes though but thirty seconds, then my brain identified english and adapted to the accent instantly, but at first I thought it was dutch or something ans my brain did'nt switch to english so I only heard sounds. Amazing how it works.
Well…. our friend has a heavy accent
@@backintimealwyn5736 Pretty much identical reaction. English and my brain adapted to the accent.
As an older man in the lovely Italian film "Cinema Paradiso" told a young guy who had fallen madly in love with a girl, "It's the blue eyes."
I'm from Greece and some people say blue eyed women will give you the evil eye 😂
@@pablogats4627
They may be evil eyes, but that has never stopped men from getting lost in them for even one second.
I often get lost in blue eyes. I cannot help myself!
What a great film 🎥 that was.
That's what a lot of women I had in my young years said
The cloudy skies often found in Scotland and Ireland (even in Summer LOL) also cut down on the sunshine which may add to the effect of the short winter daylight hours.
You realise blue eyes are found across Europe, not just Ireland and Scotland
I'm 62 with blue eyes and I have a hard time driving on the road at night. These new headlights are blinding me!
I also have that problem I don’t like driving at night all of a sudden, 63 years old with blue eyes
40 light blue eyes same happens
I had the same problem turned out to be cataracts. Had them removed and now am ok at 83 .
@@catherder6at 62 I had cataract surgery when I was 40 & 50, a bifocal lens left & then a trifocal in right eye, night driving eye sensitivity is getting worse as I get older & the implants cause rings around lights at night.
Unfortunately blue eyed people are more likely to develop AMD ( age-related macular degeneration). I’m 65, have blue eyes and have AMD. My night vision has deteriorated to a point where I can’t safely drive at night even if I wanted to.
I'm a green-eyed Irish ginger... 😌
As a welder, I do know that those with light blue eyes suffer arc-flash much more than other eye colours, I've often had it and its not nice... it feels like someone threw a handful of sand in your eyes & doesn't manifest until around 24hrs after seeing the flash...
For me, its a minor irritation but blue-eyed peeps can suffer very badly for days after...
😎👍☘🍺
Been there done that
Me too 50 years ago, never look at welding flash.
Blue eyed people have larger pupils which also lets more light on to the retina.
They don't really know why Siberian Huskies have blue eyes either
You read my mind I was thinking the same thing.ITS got to be the sun and the winters.
You read my mind. I was thinking the same thing. Some sort of interbreeding with a nice husky is the origin of blue eyes
I come from a large Irish family …my mother had gray eyes father had hazel brown eyes they had 3 boys with brown eyes, 1 girl with green hazel, 1 girl green blue, 1 boy gray, and 1 boy deep blue eyes…
Love it, thanks
Slavic mostly Polish n German all blue eyes
My grandfather was born in England of Irish parents. He also had gray eyes.
@@jonkore2024 germans are all Turkish nowadays
This makes sense. I could never understand why my brown-eyed wife kept turning the lights on, even in the middle of the day.
@nathanaustin2627
It could be worse, my wife turns the heating on, then complains about the heat and opens a window. Needless to say she doesn't pay the heating bill.
This is interesting. I'm of Scandinavian heritage. From my paternal family we are 100% blue eyes. I had never given it any thought.
Im of Gael origin. Irish and Scots. Born on Tyneside England. Father had green eyes. Mother had bright blue eyes. I have light blue eyes. My 11 children have blue eyes as do my 21 grandchildren. We Celts are the most blue eyed people.
11 children. Great!!!
Actually, all Irish grandmothers will tell their granddaughters that as Irish cumals they are born to fill the world with other cumals. Girls with red or blonde hair, blue or green eyes and freckles.This goes back to the days when the only way Irish chieftains could keep the Vikings from raiding their lands was to give them slave girls. So many Irish girls ended up in Iceland, Far Oer, York and the harems of the Muslims in Spain that those who remained had to have a lot of children, preferably daughters and the cumal became a currency. Slave girls taken by the Vikings usually liked it, not only because their life would improve, but the Viking men actually washed themselves and smelled nice. It's no wonder that peoplr living in Reykjavik look like Dubliners.
d that
You’re the cause of global warming….😮
So am i, my whole family has blue eyes, apart from a few cousins.
Ny husband and I are of Northern European descent. His eyes are an icily piercing light blue, mine are light green. It’s interesting to note that green eyes are also considered “blue” in most scientific literature.
Babies are either born with blue eyes or brown. In the case of blue eyes, it can take up to several years but, they can change to green. I had blue eyes until I was about three ❤
Same here. Bright blue eyes that changed to light green.
I was born with blue eyes. Then somewhere in my mid 20s they started changing colors. Went to get my DL & the licenses examiner (friend) ask what color my eyes were. I said “I don’t know what color do they look like today”? She looked at me real close and says “GREY”. So for about 8 yrs on my licenses have BLUE, then they have been listed GREY from then on. Time for me to renew my license wonder what color they will put on there now, they change colors to green-grey. And I’ll be 61. My mom & brother both blue eyed and stayed blue, my dad was hazel. Me I just had to be different & upset the quota, must be because I’m a Gemini ♊️ 🤣🤣 ✌🏻
I had blue eyes until after I was shot in the left eye with a home made arrow at 5yo, my left eye colour changed to a greeny to brownish colour that can change slightly day to day according to an observer.
My husband has blue eyes and I have light brown. My youngest son was born with blue eyes (as all my other children - they are gray or blue-gray now) and had them till he was 1 year old. Then suddenly one day we looked at him and he had brown eyes! Dark brown! So weird! I don't think he's a changeling LOL!
I tend to think that the differing theories are not exclusive but rather complimentary. A combination of factors.
You are probably right. Thanks
I am American from Galician descent , i have blue eyes and so did my Galician grandmother and cousins….
Galicians are Celts for the most part, so the blue eyed-theory stands.
I am from lebanon and half of my family have blue eyes. I am brown, mom a form of green, uncles blue, dad brown.
Descendants of the crusaders
@@shenghan9385🎯
@@shenghan9385 A ver si no decimos bobadas, en el Líbano hay gente que tuvo esa mutación mucho antes porque se produjo en el mar negro. Un ejemplo en España hay ojos azules por doquier, verdes, avellana.....El hombre de la Braña tenía los ojos azules hace 7000 años. La mutación de la piel blanca también se dio en Oriente próximo por los primeros agricultores del creciente fértil, hace 7000 años los cazadores recolectores europeos eran negros.
Ancient lebanon dna is Closer to europeans thant modern lebanese dna.
@@shenghan9385 I believe that. My mother's side green and blue, one of my uncles looks like Marlon Brandon, blond with blue eyes so as his children. My father came from the Mountains, a remote village with an ancient Phoenician temple on the hill. still exist..
The lack of light makes a lot of sense for this.
um eskimos?
I'm leaning towards the light theory.
honestly I think it's just a beauty thing. gold is extremely rare and precious and so is lapis lazuli. blue in general is extremely rare in nature, except for the sky. the sky has always been associated with divinity.
must have been mind blowing for people back then to see blond and blue eyed people.
imagine if someone showed up today with eyes sparkling like diamonds and neon glowing white hair or something. that must have been how alien those features seemed to people back then.
With hair the colour of golden sun rays, eyes as blue as the sky and skin as white as the clouds I have obviously been chosen by the sky gods. Placate them by giving me lots of young women to sleep with. No not that red headed fire god shaman over there.
yes, that's the most plausible explanation for the spread of blue eyes in Europe. It's nothing to do with sunlight, or seeing better in the dark, or being better hunter... no, blue eyes won't give you super powers, on the contrary, they do originate more sight problems than brown. But they are more attractive, usually.
Another important cause for blue eyes spread is that some genes that control melanin in skin and hair also influence melanin in the eyes, and so as Europeans became paler so did the eyes become lighter.
@@Cobalt1520 Indeed the idea that light reflected off your iris could have any beneficial effects to vision completely ignores the most basic principles of optics. If their are any beneficial effects of the gene apart from beauty they are secondary and less visible few genes effect only one attribute. The process of domesticating animals often seems to lead to depigmented traits. But the direct effects of depigmenting the iris can only increase scattered light which is only detrimental to vision. Fortunately in most people with blue eyes it is on the top layer that is depigmented so it is still mostly focused light getting past the pupil but there might be some light getting reflected back off the lens my blue eyed siblings seem to complain about glare when it is sunny a lot more then me.
Everyone has blue eyes. It is a structural color, not a pigment. The only reason some eyes don't appear blue is because the structural color is masked by pigment. The blue is revealed if pigment is not there. This is why some peoples eyes change color as they age.
I imagine the Chinese, used to millions of brown eyed, black hair people, meeting Europeans with blue eyes, blond hair. After getting over that shock, the Europeans tell the Chinese there are also people with green eyes, red hair. Mind blown!
I love those Egyptian sculptures with blue glass eyes.
I read somewhere I think it was Cheops had a red haired, blue eyed wife imported from Ireland. Years later my friend's mom went to Ireland and came back with an ankh. THAT blew my mind, I started looking into it, and weirdly there are more than a few ties between Celts and Egyptians.
Lapis lazuli, most likely.
There's artifacts similiar in ancient Sumer.
Women adore blue eyes. They practically worship them. What's the first thing women look for when they see a baby? It's eye color.
Lol😂😂😂 i wish
Suuuuuuuuurrrrre buddy. I could care less about eye color.
@@HistoryAndACupOfTeait’s true. 🤷♂️
Based on my own experience, I would agree with you. I was born with light brown eyes, but as I have aged my eyes for some reason have lightened into yellow, green, and blue. No one ever complimented my eyes when they were brown, but now women come up to me all the time just to look into my eyes and tell me how pretty they are. It's kind of nice. I just wish that they looked this way when I was still in my teens, because it is definitely a confidence booster.
@@erichimes3062 People like her don't care about the truth, they have an agenda that they are trying to push.
Thank you - I’ve come to really look forward to your presentations here.
Thank you
Very interesting information video. Thanks
Blue eyes, lighter skin, taller. Just like a plant reaching for light. That is how we humans adapted. The blue eyes, to adapt to lower light northern regions.
eskimoes?
Rarer things are more precious, so i'm glad I have bluey green eyes.
Wow! Which part of Scotland are you from my friend? Do you speak Scots Gaelic? I studied Irish Gaelic for a year at UCLA. You have a very strong accent, but as I listen carefully, I'm able to understand about 95% of what you say 😀 Thanks for all your hard work on the channel!
Thanks. I don't, I wish I could though. I will need to learn a bit outside of the few words I know. I was born in Falkirk and I have worked in Glasgow etc.
Irish viewer. My 4 grandparents had blue eyes. I reckon it's to do with light cos when I holiday in sunny places, the sunglasses are essential. Otherwise, the brightness kills me.
It's only subjective, but I do see people with blue eyes attractive. Almost every each of my favourite characters have either blue eyes or blonde hair😅
It's cultural aspect of watching movies created by Hollywood. Wait few years for your kids to grew up on black elves, gnomes and even black Thor.
@@TimurDavletshin No thanks 🤮😂
@@Beldoras well, like it or not, you have little choice.
@TimurDavletshin no choice? 😂 we do actually we just don't watch it 🤣🤣
@TimurDavletshin fortunately, I actually don't watch Hollywood movies (I am not interested in western culture at all. I love Japan and Asia, that's it). I don't think it has to do a lot with just culture. My mom has blue eyes too and I like it, I think
I think the "light theory" explains where evolution of blue eyes kicked in, but the attractiveness came afterwards.
I think the sun-light/radiation natural condition is the only explanation and there isn't a coincidence that the blue eyes and the blonde hair is a north characteristic, and the polar animals (fox, wolf, rabbit, owl, bear...) are of white color and its has light eyes, some even blue.
If the light theory is true why didn’t it also pop up all across the tundra area of Asia and North America., but instead there you have only a brown eyes
@@valdasendriulaitis50 for them, the time they passed there is too short. The northern peoples went there from the central Asia, relatively recently. The ancestors of Yakutia, for examples, where nearly Caspian sea 2 thousand years ago, the ugric peoples moved toward ural from baycal lake. The finic peoples (ramification of ugric) have a high level of blond/blue.
The cave peoples lived this way 40 thousand years, and they stayed isolated in Scandinavia and the islands around, caught there by the melt of ice sheet/rise of water level, for at least 5 thousand years.
The scale of time is very different.
The opposite process, you have the european genetic Rb nearly Chad lake and the genetic adapted to the equatorial climate.
I'm still learning english and your wonderful accent is really challenging !
Don't worry. The Scottish accent is challenging even for people from the United States.
Give it time and you will be speaking Scottish soon :)
@@selohcinis it really that difficult to understand?. I only ask as I'm not Scottish either I'm northern English and my accent is completely different to the presenters but I can understand everything he says.
@@tigerland4328 Obviously, my comment was about people from the United States, not people from England.
@@selohcin I didn't mean any offence I was just asking how difficult it is to understand for people from outside the UK. I suppose it comes down to expose. There is probably accents in the USA that British people would find difficult to understand while it would relatively easy for Americans from other regions of the country.
Great video, thank you!
Thanks
Im a Finnish guy and i have blue eyes. My sister has green eye. And yes i think the colour must have something to do with the lack of light during winter in northern Europe.
Great topic are you going to do other eye colors and hair colors as well?
Thanks Elizabeth. I am, I have a whole series of videos planned
I have blue eyes, and I prefer shopping in certain stores compared to others just because of the harsh lighting.
I'm from Calabria in Italy - which is very southern Italy - and all my family, most relatives and many people in our town have blue eyes.... Like many people have said, I, too, prefer low light/lamp light to strong/bright light ...
Very interesting!
Thanks
I heard a theory that blue eyed people could have more likelihood of passing on their gene to future offspring by selecting for other blue eyed mates. Since blue eyes stem from a recessive gene, both parents sharing that gene should produce a blue eyed progeny.
both parents do not need to have blue eyes to have children with blue eyes, as long as there are blue eyes in both families.
@@kifi672 yeah, but it's still recessive.
@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115 it is, that's why it has to be present in both sides of the family
Or, like me, have a broken gene that ensures blue eyes will always occur
Two brown eyed people can produce blue eyed children, but both need to have the recessive gene. Wheereas two blue eyed people can only produce blue eyed children
Bluey here. The upside of being sensitive to bright lights/sunlight, is having extremely good night vision.
I can walk around a dark room/house, with no problem whatsoever .
Hunting in low light would select upon larger pupils while low light conditions of high latitude or cloudy areas would select upon blue eyes for vitamin d production. People that were exposed to a lot of solar radiation like in the savanna or in sunny snow covered ground conditions or farming all day, would have to be better protected with brown eyes and eyes that were less sensitive to light.
I’m from Scotland. I have blue eyes. This was a very interesting video. Thank you for the knowledge. Lots off good comments. Peace
Thanks
My mother had light blue grey eyes.. and she was very light sensitive
My name is Blue and I have Blue eyes and I'm from Scotland
My name is brown,my eyes are brown and I live in New Brunswick, Canada. True story
Prove it
I have blue eyes, I live in the southern US.. I wish I wasn’t affected by seasonal depression, but it definitely plagues me every year. Awesome info! Thanks for the video. Oh and yes I am very sensitive to the light and spend a lot of time out at night and feel more comfortable at night.
Thanks
GREAT ACCENT !
A NICE VIDEO.
My wife and her family are blue eyed american indians, but mated earlier with Germans.
Thanks! Yes, I think the light has effected the eye color. I just saw a video, about 2 weeks ago, the guy was saying that due to the decrease of light, especially in northern Europe, has enabled blue eyed people to be able to see better in low light/night time.
I have deep blue eyes; this is a throwback beyond my mother and father who both had light brown eyes. My Irish Grandfather and Scottish Grandmother on my mother's side both had blue eyes. On my father's side, my grandparents, both 3rd generation Australian had light brown eyes. The theory that low light may be the reason behind blue eyes is plausible, but I think in modern ages is pure genetics.
My dad is 50/50 Frisian/ Hungarian, my mother is 100% Czech... everyone in my family has blue eyes, except my mom and brother, they have bright green..
Czech here, 80% family blue, 10% brown 10% green
I suggest that a lot of the evolutionary pressure is for being able to be productive indoors and at night. Needing to be active during moonlight and by lamp-or fire-light to weave, sew, make ropes, fix nets and hunting gear, sharpen plows and planting sticks etc., put a premium on being able to see in low light. The more southerly areas have more daylight even in the midwinter, and most of the near-tropical areas are dry, so that there is plenty of time for productive efforts when the sun is out. Also, there is a counterpressure for brown eyes where there is a lot of strong sun and glare - deserts, savannah, plains, tropical and near-tropical, and areas covered with snow or ice - brown eyes are protective for the very same reason that they hinder night vision compared to blue eyes.
I have worked grave yard shift for many years, and I prefer being out at night. I'm in Arizona and the day definitely causes me pain in the eyes.
My 4 grandparent eyes were blue, my 2 parents eyes are green and mine are darker brown and each generation was born further north than the previous one. I think genetic is a little more complicated than that.
Milkman
Hm, It is imho atractive to emphasize on external application of eyesight for hunting and other outdoors activities, but what about internal (or better; in-home) advantages of better eyesight. When it is dark outside, most social interactions (among which procreative efforts and courtship) take place inside and these being low-light conditions would give a higher susceptibility of light under in-home conditions a more generic advantage. The other thing is that in-home activities often form the essential preparation possibilities for outdoor ones and better preparations that way through better eyesight in low-light conditions, would significantly add to outdoor success and with that form an elevated evolutionary pressure on acquisition of blue (or lighter hued) eyes. In Northern lattitudes the mainstay and duration of activities would be in the protection of the indoors because of lack of outdoors light in Winter time, thus favouring those with lighter eye-colour.
it should be easy to make a test which eyecolor has the better eyesight in low light
blue eyes see better at night and were adapted for dark environments
Maybe slept through the day as a survival method….
The advantage of seeing better in low light seems the likely selection pressure.
Very interesting! I have deep blue eyes. My ancestors were Pict. I noticed something about my eyes today. When I come indoors from the bright outside light, I see a ring of light in my vision. It is like a donut shape in the middle of my vision. Then it slowly fades away after I've been inside a little while. Maybe what I am seeing is my iris. The darker spot in the middle is my pupils.?
Both my mum and dad had blue eyes as does my entire family. Both sides of my family are Gaels, so this makes good sense. I’m, myself, more comfortable in low light when compared to my wife who has brown eyes.
Very intelligent commentary, well prepared. I have to think that while blue eyes may be striking, fair hair is even more so.
Im 61, Born in Oakham, Rutland, England, adopted from birth and raised by a caring couple. My eyes are a nightmare blue, I've had nothing but confrontation all my life, if I had a pound or dollar for every "Who/what you looking at?" I could have a small field and peace. However, my real mother, from the North East of England, found me when I was 44, sadly it was an awkward and heartbreaking reunion with both of us left with more questions than answers. One thing that shocked my socks off though, was the fact that she was from the travelling community and that her birth certificate named the lane her family wagon stopped in for her birth. I found I have 3 half sisters and I keep in touch with one of them, the eldest, and she has the same eyes as me and everybody wants to be her friend. Funny old world.
Blue eyed here. Dutch & Danish Ancestors.
Im blonde with green 💚 eyes and much prefer the dark and rarely have lights on in the evening because i get headaches. I most definitely have to wear sunglasses outside on sunny and often cloudy days. 😎
My Irish dad has brown eyes as does my Italian mother I ended up with grey eyes and all my siblings have brown eyes. I married a red head with brown eyes and both my kids have blue eyes. (And I love the fall & winter because it’s darker)
Is most beautiful eye color by far
A mutation in the HERC2 gene adjacent to OCA2, affecting OCA2's expression in the human iris, is found common to nearly all people with blue eyes.
I have brown eyes and the winter months even in the deep south of the US, where I live, can make me very somber.
I don't agree with your theory. If that was the case Eskimos, people form Siberia, native people of Canada, Australia and New Zealand would all develop blue eyes because of shorter days. Also in Northern Europe there is a lot of snow which reflect a lot of light so it isn't lack of light. My theory is caves that people lived in during ice age in Europe.
The night vision, theory is completely implausible, light reflected off the iris has no benefit to vision optics just does not work that way, that's up there with paint it red to go faster. It is either a side effect of some other beneficial affects of the gene which could include night vision, it is close to the brain less melanin in the brain could affect behavior, depigmentation is often seen in animal domestication. But most likely it just makes you pretty, sky blue eyes might have given you a shoe in to the position of shaman of the sky gods.
There is another conversation about this. Those peoples who live in more snow covered areas have an excess of light.
Good points, thanks. My theory is a working one :) and there are probably other variables at play as well, although I would still say low light is a major driver. Perhaps when you get very far north the sensitivity of lighter eyes becomes an issue with snow blindness etc. Europe may be in sort of a Goldilocks zone for blue eyes, where it is cold and has low light but not as extreme as other places, and the landscape is more conducive to blue eyes being selected for over time.
Don't forget Northern Europe has dense forests and often cloudy skies.
Not sure how cloudy the tundra is, but I don't think there are many closed canopy forrests!
Also, the mutation may never have developed in the Eskimo population.
@@JamieR2077 Scattered light does not create an image. There is no way for light bouncing off your iris to help you see in the dim.
Another thought is that if a genetic mutation doesn't bring any disadvantage, it's just as likely to be furthered along in the population. So while blue eyes may provide some evolutionary advantage by helping vision in low light, it's also possible that a mutation occurred in a particular population and then gradually spread with them to other populations geographically.
Besides the sexual attractiveness theory, one can also theorise that blue-eyed babies are attractive, leading to a higher survival rate. Mating is one thing, making it to sexual maturity in the first place is quite another, and historically perhaps more important. Another fact to back up this theory is that a lot of babies start out blue-eyed, and only later progress to green or brown.
Pretty good analysis. I wonder though, do the Sami people (AKA Laplanders) have a strong trait for blue eyes since they live so far north in Scandinavia?
Most of them have dark hair and eyes.
My wife and I have blue eyes and so do our kids . I have been completed on my blues eyes a lot lol
The low light conditions in Europe where forest have been predominant over the area has , most certainly, played key role in the process of turning the eye colour from brown to blue.
However, sexual preference has, likely, played part in sustaining the gene of blue eyes which is recessive compared to brown eyes gene.
One of the research shows a significant difference in ambient light preference at households among different groups of people from around the world where Europe, especially Norther part of it, has significant inclination towards low light conditions thus, I would presume this has been the key factor in the appearance of this particular gene.
I have gray eyes and have exceptional night vision even with no moon light, although in summer sunglasses are a must otherwise I get severe migraines. I always believed it was just due to evolutionary changes due to short days during the winter.
So how do you account for intuits with dark eyes and skin?
By being isolated from the common ancestor(s) mutation. Perhaps by different cultural standards as well, not accepting strong divergence or not finding it attractive?
Admittedly, I'm kinda jealous of people with blue eyes. I have plenty of family members whose eyes are blue, but mine are just plain brown.
I like brown eyes
My brother and three sisters have brown eyes and I am the only one with blue eyes so the milkman must have been my father.
Hi
Imo, i believe it is to do with our dark days. You suggested we may see better in the dark which i believe
All very interesting. I wonder if the 'low light' theory applies to other mammals in the animal kingdom. Like bears, dogs and members of the deer family who have been exposed to the same environmental conditions in Northern Europe as humans?
I have a very light complexion. Blonde hair and blue eyes. I've found the only place i dont get sun burnt on my face and kind of blind feeling is under the giant old growth redwood and fir forests of coastal northern California where i am from. Long hours under florescent lights burn my nose, and hurt my eyes. Anywhere there arent alot of tall trees is uncomfortable too. The beach, the river just about everywhere. Its the dark green of tall trees that is the only thing comfortable to look at. The trees have to be tall because to much open sky is to much for my eyes and skin.
Maybe blue eyed people evolved under old growth forests? Maybe on the coast where there isn't alot of snow?
I was also surprised to find Africans, as racially black as would be expected, with extremely dark skin and Icelandic blue eyes. Very startling and attractive. Would love to see how that happened and follow those genes.
Side effect of rare genetic disorders.. extremly rare, maybe 1000 Africans out of 1Billion have this.. not to be confused with genetic hereditary European blue eyes
@@jonbinki9651 Actually they are hereditary traits. It is passed on from the parents to the children. In one case I looked into the mother had blue eyes, married a dark eyed and skinned normal African man, and their children had her blue eyes. He was going to divorce her because it freaked him out, right up until they started making money from it because of the attention it got. Icelandic light blue eyes, from the mother. It is not a disease any more than European blue eyes are if it passes from one generation to the other. Worth looking into if you are not familiar with it.
I haven't watched this video yet because I am on the road, but here is what looks like a decent video about it.
czcams.com/video/USADLf0iYoM/video.html
My brother & sister used to tell me I was adopted as I had blue eyes to their brown.
Little did they know that I could see the light behind their shadowy mischief.
The light theory works except for Siberian and Inuit people. Although the Siberian Husky also has blue eyes.
The hunter theory works I suppose. I also wonder if the seas have anything to do with it.
Well I have blue eyes and I have 7 children, so my own study has proved true about sexual attraction.
The blue eye map correlates with some videos regarding corded ware cultures and yamnaya
Not sure if they were blue eyed though
Leuren Moret has a video talking about blue and green eyes being a mutation and how italians, basque and irish being from the (ancient iranian bloodlines).
Yamnaya and CW had mostly brown eyes but some carried genes for blue eyes after mixing with Western hunter gatherers. Blue eyes comes from Western hunter gatherers. During the Bronze age blue eyes became more common in some parts probably due to sexual selection
Mutation,adaptation, to low light and snowy conditions. Brighter hair color and skin also accompany these adaptations. Humans are like animals and adapt to their specific natural and unnatural environments.
i have grey/blue eyes and i definitely struggle in bright conditions. in cloudy conditions i'm fine
Mutation, and the gene survived and ended up thriving over tens of thousands of years to become decently common phenotype for a group of people. That’s what I remember from ‘evolution’ class in college
Australia has a few blue eyed people in this hot joint but they all hale from Northern climes
In Queensland, of all places, with a strong blue eyes and red hair. From the Scottish, and Europeans.
@@indigocheetah4172 Tell me about it mate i`m of the Irish
@@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf, my apologies. I meant to add the Irish, as we have a few Irish clubs in Queensland. I'm a redhead with blue eyes.
@@indigocheetah4172 All good mate. I`m bald with bloodshot eyes a lot . The Irish in me
@@waynemcauliffe-fv5yf, lol.
Human coloration has been shown to be multigenic, and eye coloration could be secondary to other traits that may have been selected.
the solar list, is better described with the cites since the minim daylength do vary over countries, where in sweden is 0 in most northen part of the country, above the botana bay.
I think that variations occured as a random process so several adaptations to cold are present, extra eye fold, thick hair, shorter limbs, are some of the others. But pain receptors to cold are expressed more in brown eyed people. There were experiments which proved it, such as how long people could bear their hands in cold water etc, so self selection is in the fingers of those who find it bearable. If you can't stand the cold you don't stay in northern Europe, unless you have other adaptations, or lifestyles.
I have blue eyes and can see well in the dark. People also say they change color with my mood. Women have commented on my eyes many times over the years. 👍
Same mate. My Change from light blue to green depending on conditions or mood..
This is a incredible human adaptation and no wonder brown eye girls go wild for men like this..
interesting thing I find, is how despite being two small neighbouring countries, the netherlands has over 60% blue eyes and Belgium only 25! on the other hand Belgium has far, far more red hair and green eyes than the Netherlands... so the germanic/celtic differences are still there from before the Roman conquest of the area. i'm an interesting case myself, my hair is dark brown and curly, my eyes light blue and my skin relatively dark compared to the others here but freckled, I am from Antwerp, north of Belgium.
Interesting. You're living in a culturaly and geneticaly diverse trading spot of europe, makes sense
There's only point I might add as I agree with your opinion, and those bellow who point out that forests are even darker.
As you show the further north the more predominant blue eyes are but also the higher the percentage of the red haired Neanderthal DNA you finde in these populations.
Note this particularly applies to north west blood lines (Europe)not north east(Asia) who have Denisovan DNA.
It would be interesting to know if blue eyes is one of our Neanderthal family traits.😊
My eyes are sensitive to bright light. Snow glare is bad as well.
I think it's related to seeing better in the dark. Possibly even so that people could hunt at night, since some hunter-gatherers had darker skin and blue eyes. It makes sense.The "attractiveness" factor doesn't seem like it could be a reason, since it depends on what the rest of the person looks like. But it makes sense that it's regional too.
In 1995 I went on holiday to Tanzania. I went to see an archaeological area where remains of ancient hominids had been found.The custodian of that archaeological area was a typical African Bantu.But he had blue eyes!!!!
hello from finland, brown eyes here :D
Love it
Kuzey yarıkürede doğal koşulların sonucu bir mutasyonla oluşmuş ama doğal seçilimle yayılmıştır.En mantıklısı bu görünüyor.Işığın ve soğuğun etkisi.Ama çoğalıp yayılması doğal seçilim.