Monday 7 March 2016

The Geography Behind Ginger Hair

Although red hair is seen as rare, it is found in many places around the world. From the cold extremes of Scotland and Ireland to the warm islands of Polynesia but red heads often find themselves in minority due to the gene's infrequent nature.


In a recent discovery, it was proven that Neanderthals possessed the red hair gene and in fact some of them even had red hair. This changed the way Neanderthals were portrayed and depicted on the October 2008 National Geographic magazine was a reinvented Neanderthal with red hair and green eyes.
Red hair is a recessive gene caused by a mutation in the melanocortin 1 receptor carried in 1-2% of the population and it's mainly found around the British Isles. It is well known as trait found in the Irish and Irish red heads are often referred to as 'leprechauns'.

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