Black Africans with blue eyes do not come as often as you would find white people, but they still exist. In fact, there are quite a large number of them. Africans are known to mostly have brown or black eyes while Caucasians are mostly known to have varieties of colors. However, a significant number of Africans are known to have blue eyes which usually attract attention and questions as to where or how it comes about. Unfortunately, it is believed by many to be diabolical or even abnormal. This article will further help you snap out of the thoughts of blue eyes as related to evil or abnormality.
Over the years, research has shown that whether white or black, it is possible to have different colours of the eyes and having a blue one is not an exception. In fact, quite a number of Africans have been born with blue eyes and year in year out; they continue to attract people to their uncommon eyes in people of the black race. It is good to know that blue eyes has no relation to curse or evil, rather, there’s a huge relationship with people’s genetics.
Different researches have been carried out to know why few black Africans have blue eyes since it is not one of the traits possessed by people of black race. Here are some of the findings on Black Africans with blue eyes:
Black Africans with blue eyes
It is as a result of a Genetic Mutation
It has been noted that a genetic mutation which arose 6,000 to 10,000 years ago is responsible for the substitution of the common brown eyes with the blue ones in people. This is not minding race or gender or even other factors people have.
A team of researchers carried out a research on blue-eyed people and found out they all possess a particular gene which is responsible for the blue eyes in them all. This single mutation in their gene is known as OCA2, which came up thousands of years ago. Following this research, it is argued that almost everyone with blue eyes is linked to a particular ancient genetic mutation.
The origin of this mutation can be traced back to Europe. This explains why Europeans have a very good number of people who have blue eyes more than people of other continents, especially Africa.
Following the above finding, questions arise as to how the mutation responsible for blue eyes came about.
- Here’s the thing. The mutation that is resulted in blue eyes altered the OCA2 gene that is saddled with the responsibility of producing brown melanin in the eyes.
- A professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine in the University of Copenhagen, Professor Eiberg says that originally in history. People have brown eyes rather than as opposed to various colours of eyes as found in different people across the world. However, the ability to produce these brown eyes in some people is distorted by the genetic mutation that affects the OCA2 gene.
- For tens of thousands of years, this genetic mutation has been passed from one generation to the next and the next and continuous till date. However, blue eyes are passed down to offspring if and only if they inherit the gene that carries the colour of the eyes. The few Africans that have this eye colour have been able to be passed the gene responsible for blue eyes.
It can also be as a result of a health condition
In as much as most people that possess blue eyes is as a result of a genetic mutation, there’s a number of people who have the unique colour of the eyes because of health condition. Therefore, Africans who have blue eyes can have it as a result of genetic mutation or because they have a health condition that changes the colour of their eyes.
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- This health condition responsible for blue eyes in very few people and is called the Waardenburg syndrome (WS), which is a rare disease that is associated with pigment anomaly and defects of neural crest-derived tissues.
- Waardenburg is said to occur only once in about 42,000 births. As the natural genetic mutation, Waardenburg is also passed to descendants. It is often inherited from a single parent who is likely to possess or not possess same characteristics.
- Waardenburg often comes with the abnormalities of; multiple colours otherwise known heterochromia, pale blue eyes, reflective or even spottiness. If a black folk with blue eyes does not have any of the mentioned characteristics but still have the colour of the eyes, then he is likely to be one of the few who possess the same eyes which is very common among white folks.
There is no guarantee of having a child with blue eyes
Like any other gene, it is likely to have descendants who do not possess blue eyes even when a parent or both parents have the colour of the eyes. This is one of the very few reasons why the blue eyes is sparsely seen in black Africans. The genetic mutation can skip in generations and pop up again.
Importantly: Just because a black African has blue eyes does not mean he will have offspring who share the same characteristic of having blue eyes.
When next you see one of the Black Africans with blue eyes do not run or see them as island. In fact, the colour of the eyes is even part of the trend as people have taken to wearing contact lens as part of fashion. Therefore, when black Africans are seen with the sea coloured eyes, it is either it’s natural as that of the Asians and Europeans, as a result of the Waardenburg syndrome as in extremely few people, or even artificial as in many.
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Do not forget also, that it is not only the colour of the eyes that some black Africans possess. It is no rumour that extremely few Africans with no Caucasian family relative or history whatsoever and without albinism were born whites or even few born possessing the soft and long hair as the Caucasians as opposed the normal negro wooly hair. There are also rare cases of people who possess hair as the blondes.
