Post #1419681

Now and then, I come across the claim that humans evolved dark skin in tropical regions to protect from UV rays. When humans moved to more northern climes, this story goes, they became more light-skinned so as to get more sunlight and thus Vitamin D. I wonder if the reason humans became lighter-skinned as they began to live in northern areas had little to do with sunlight and a great deal to do with camouflage when they hunted. Skin color evolved as camouflage in humans just as patterns in fur evolve in other animals to conceal themselves whether they are hunters or hunted. I first thought of this on reading about a very light-skinned Dutchman who had to blacken his skin or cover it with dark clothing when he went night hunting with Hadza hunters. If he hadn't done that, the baboons they were hunting would have seen him a mile away even at night.