Pages Menu
Categories Menu

Posted by on Feb 10, 2015 in TellMeWhy |

Why Do We Have Different Shades of Eye Color?

Why Do We Have Different Shades of Eye Color?

Let us find out why do we have different shades of eye color? The color of our eyes has to do with our genes. These genes account for the most common colors — green, brown, and blue.

Genes are tiny chemical messengers that carry such family traits as skin and hair color, as well as eye color.

Genes are passed along to us by our parents. Chances are we have the same color eyes as one of our parents. What if we’re the only brown-eyed member in a blue-eyed family?

We may find out how we got them by tracing our family tree. One of our grandparents may have had brown eyes. Gene traits are passed from one generation to the next. This is called heredity.

Why Do Some People Have Blue Eyes, and Others Have Brown? Eye color is not an example of a simple genetic trait, and blue eyes are not determined by a recessive allele at one gene.

Instead, eye color is determined by variation at several different genes and the interactions between them, and this makes it possible for two blue-eyed parents to have brown-eyed children. So now we know why do we have different shades of eye color.

Why are green eyes so rare? Very little melanin, a burst of lipochrome, and the Rayleigh scattering of light that reflects off the yellow stroma can make for a variety of shades of green. With only two percent of the world’s population having green eyes, it’s definitely rare!

Content for this question contributed by Sarah Macy, resident of Sheffield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, USA