Interesting is an understatement. A Nigerian couple living in London gave birth to a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white baby girl. The baby is not albino and fidelity has nothing to do with the baby’s complexion.
Genetics at Oxford University and Britain’s leading expert yesterday called the birth “extraordinary.’ He said, “In mixed race humans, the lighter variant of skin tone may come out in a child – and this can sometimes be startlingly different to the skin of the parents.’ He continued, “This might be the case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations. But in Nigeria there is little mixing.”
Professor Sykes said both parents would have needed “some form of white ancestry” for a pale version of their genes to be passed on. But he added: “The hair is extremely unusual. Even many blonde children don’t have blonde hair like this at birth.” The expert said some unknown mutation was the most likely explanation. He admitted, “The rules of genetics are complex and we still don’t understand what happens in many cases.”
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