Daily Mail
Is red hair caused by cold climates?
Experts believe that Scotland’s gloomy climate has seen a deliberate genetic adaptation to help exploit rare sunny days and boost Vitamin D production.
Alastair Moffat, managing director of the ScotlandsDNA project, said the country’s dull weather was responsible for a larger number of flame-haired men and women being born.
Only about 1-2 per cent of the world’s population has red hair but in Scotland the figure is much higher, with about 13 per cent, or 650,000 people, with flaming locks.
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How do we know it isn’t cold climates that are caused by red hair?
/AGW
peski on November 8, 2012 at 6:05 PM
Redheads with accents…Mmmmmm
Verrrry nice.
LincolntheHun on November 8, 2012 at 6:05 PM
Liberals tell us that global warming causes everything, so I’d put my money on global warming causing red hair.
RJL on November 8, 2012 at 6:06 PM
That’s what they were saying on Sky News here in the UK this morning, so it MUST be true.
flipflop on November 8, 2012 at 6:10 PM
If it is true, I want to move to Scotland. Homina, homina homina…
john1schn on November 8, 2012 at 6:15 PM
Gingervitus sick gross. Better Dead than Red!
ChunkyLover on November 8, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Duh. Anyone find any indigenous red heads within a thousand miles of the equator?
farsighted on November 8, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Yes. Haven’t you seen all of those red-haired Eskimos?
steebo77 on November 8, 2012 at 6:21 PM
BTW, there is a difference between “cause” and evolutionary adaptability.
farsighted on November 8, 2012 at 6:21 PM
But do they have souls?
Vegi on November 8, 2012 at 6:23 PM
In all seriousness, aren’t there a bunch of red-haired Polynesians? Cold climate at cause?
steebo77 on November 8, 2012 at 6:24 PM
?
Really? With the nom de plume of chunkylover?
Ha Ha Ha Ha
Good luck with your hogging.
LincolntheHun on November 8, 2012 at 6:33 PM
Well I do remember something about Russia being red…
Gingotts on November 8, 2012 at 6:47 PM
Actually, there have been chemical and genetic studies that suggest Neanderthals were gingers, and that modern humans, specifically Caucasians, have a certain amount of Neanderthal ancestry. This could explain some of the superstitions that have surrounded red hair throughout history, if it was associated with relict Neanderthal populations that interacted with modern humans. Neanderthals settled mostly in cooler climates and the Middle East. Both regions are known to produce the occasional redhead.
Sekhmet on November 8, 2012 at 6:59 PM
So the left was right, we really are knuckle-draggers?
sharrukin on November 8, 2012 at 7:05 PM
My parents’ last two children (of six) were both born with red hair. I thought it was because they were getting rusty. Now, only years later, I find out it’s because my mom was Scots-Irish. Awkward.
~ Love,
The odd and sole towhead (fourth out of six). God’s funny.
Fallon on November 8, 2012 at 7:06 PM
Are there any red haired eskimos? When eskimos start sprouting red hair, then maybe they’ll be onto something.
Buddahpundit on November 8, 2012 at 7:10 PM
Eskimos are a recent migratory group from Asia.
sharrukin on November 8, 2012 at 7:16 PM
heh. I think blonde hair must be a recessive or something – I’m the only blonde in a family full of brown hair. Same thing in the previous generation, too – one blonde kid, the rest of ‘em dark-haired.
AndStatistics on November 8, 2012 at 7:24 PM
At what point does their hair turn red? Shouldn’t they have one or two red hairs on their heads by now?
Buddahpundit on November 8, 2012 at 7:24 PM
I don’t know. Genetic adaptations take time on the scale of tens of thousands of years.
sharrukin on November 8, 2012 at 7:28 PM
I have four kids… yup, one blonde. Unfortunately, we don’t stay blonde past middle school. Both my youngest son and I turned to the dark side as we got older. We both have green eyes, too. My family all had blue eyes and my other three children (and their dad) all have brown eyes. Weird.
Fallon on November 8, 2012 at 7:37 PM