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Alternate Races/Ethnicities
Topic Started: Mar 15 2010, 03:55 PM (1,465 Views)
lamna
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What other kinds of races could have developed under different conditions, and why?

I know that "Asian eyes" probably evolved to cope with dust-storms, and skin tone depends on sunlight. Where their is little sunlight you need pale skin to get as much vitamin D as you can, in bright places dark skin is needed to protect the skin, but what is the reason for other features?
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Margaret Pye
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Really? What, Africans are less vulnerable to nits than Europeans? I've never heard that before (not that that means anything, my kindergarten didn't have any Africans...)
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Kingpin
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I suppose it depends on where you live. Live high up in the mountains, and your lungs get bigger to compensate for the thin air. What really shapes racial features is the enviorment around you (and I mean biomes and altitudes here), and weather conditions. The non-stop sun caused Africans to adapt dark skin, and frequent dust storms cause asians to adapt their more efficiant eye structure. Makes me wonder what people would look like in a place that was always raining, 24/7.
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colddigger
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well i'm not sure about the texture thing, i was just told once that lice like smooth hair because it's easy to move around in... but then again maybe rough hair is easier to hold onto and it's the other way around...

either way bad hygiene is probably the most determining factor...

always raining?

hair that poofs out slightly and points down, very oily, so that water runs right off and away from the body. very long eyelashes to keep water out of the eyes. no sweating since it'd be pointless as the water would never evaporate off of you. and probably some stuff to do with prevention of fungal disease.
Edited by colddigger, Mar 17 2010, 09:36 PM.
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Kingpin
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That makes sense. Maybe the skin produces some special sort of oil that makes water just roll off, avoiding the fungal problems.
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KayKay
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It would get chilly.

More prone to more fat under the skin?
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This seems to be a very unattractive race of people. Fat, damp, and oily.
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I love New York. You can pop out of the Underworld in Central Park, hail a taxi, head down Fifth Avenue with a giant hellhound loping along behind you, and nobody even looks at you funny.

-Last Olympian, Rick Riordan.

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HELICOPTER. It is a HELICOPTER. You call that thing a 'whirly-bird' one more time, I'll beat you SO bad, your sister's gonna wish she never gave birth to you.

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colddigger
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makes me think of basement dwellers, in their native region being attracted to "exotic" folk would probably be very common.

also remember that people have clothing, that considered it's likely that they would just wear thick clothing...
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KayKay
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I'm not sure about that, what natural clothing would be thick enough to keep a person dry at the skin in 24/7 rainfall? Also, if it was a warm climate that would just feel horrible, they'd probably seek relief from taking some clothes of. Then to consider if the clothes are just thick enough to retain enough warmth but not too much, even if the dampness was still warm enough, damp clothes rubbing against skin constantly can cause some nasty rashes.
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colddigger
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clothing wiped with wax would work fine, also the people would build shelters, so they could just wear wax jackets when going outside, then if it's too hot inside remove them.
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lamna
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In Meghalaya, India it rains almost constantly, and the locals are pretty normal, other than the fact they can put up with the rain. It's so wet there that British and Irish people kept getting SAD and going a bit mad.

I know purple eyes exist, but are very rare. I wonder if their is a way they could become more common, other than purple eyes being seen as very desirable.
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agatharights
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Purple, pink, and red eyes lal exist, typically in people with partial albinism. Since purple eyes are caused by a micture of blue pigmentation and lack of pigmentation, and red/pink is sheer lack of pigment
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lamna
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Shame you don't see many red eyes other than in Albinos, they look really cool.

I wonder if a combination of Red eyes and brown skin could evolve?
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If we ever start colonizing other planets, would this sort of thing eventually happen to those people? Like, Martians would get a little tanner or develop subtle ways to keep out dust, or Europans would become pale and "adapt" to the dark and the cold?
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lamna
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If anything they will become paler what with all the time you spend indoors, even when you are in the sun it's going to be feeble compared to on earth.
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T.Neo
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Well, even humans with primitive technology can control at least the immediate environment- fire and clothing is a prime example. I agree that living in a rainforest environment would make the race of people better climbers, but it would be mainly from a cultural and lifestyle point of view, IMO.

When (hopefully) we start colonising other planets, we will probably live in habitats that closely resemble the environment back home on Earth. Exposing yourself to the environment of Mars or Europa will mean certain death either by vacuum exposure, hypothermia and drowning, or radiation exposure (depending on which part of Europa you expose yourself to).

It would be a like living indoors all the time, I suppose. So the people would probably become pretty pale. Gravity will probably have an effect but nobody is sure how, or to what degree.
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