A person’s gaze is the first thing we pay attention to when we interact with them for the first time. It is something instinctive: our eyes are going to meet those of the other to, from that visual reference point, connect with the emotions and feelings of the other ex.
Considering that, It is normal for people with green eyes to catch our attention Such a small part of the face is capable of attracting so much attention that it is common to see fathers and mothers calculate the chances of having offspring with this feature.
But green eyes are not only pure aesthetics, because they are also fascinating in other aspects.
Curious facts about people with green eyes
Below you can find the characteristics of people with green eyes that make this trait so mysterious and fascinating.
1. The shade of the iris is one of the rarest
It is estimated that Only 2% of the world’s population has green eyes , which means that only those with scarlet, black or red eyes are less numerous. This may be due to several reasons.
On the one hand, it is very possible that a sufficient number of people with green eyes only appeared in relatively recent times, a few thousand years ago, which means that they have not had time to mix much with strands of DNA from all human beings. . It is estimated that the mutation that produced this characteristic appeared in tribes of central or northern Europe sometime in the Bronze Age
On the other hand, the chances of having a boy or girl with green eyes only exceed 50% if both parents also have that trait. If only one of them has it, these fall below 40%.
2. This trait first appeared in Europe
In addition to the rarity of this trait, it is estimated that More than half of people with green eyes live in Europe Hungary and especially Iceland are the places where this physical trait is most abundant. Outside of this continent, some ethnic groups belonging to the Indo-Iranian area also have high concentrations of people with green eyes, although it is not well known if they have a common ancestor or the gene responsible for that shade appeared in isolation in Asia.
Even rarer cases with green-eyed families are found in some areas of North Africa traditionally occupied by the Berber ethnic group, such as the Rif region in Morocco, Kabylia, in Algeria, or Liquian in China.
3. Green irises take months to appear
Interestingly, it is extremely rare for newborn babies to already have green eyes. Usually, Those who get to have them that color do so after reaching their first year of life , and on the day of delivery they have blue or grayish colors. It is believed that this is due to a certain genetic propensity for the melanin in the eyes to be distributed following specific developmental rhythms.
4. They have the most attractive eye color
Most questionnaire-based studies show that, at least for Western society, green eyes are the most aesthetic and attractive the blue ones being in second place. Perhaps the fact that they are rare can influence this, since the law of scarcity tells us that we tend to value more what is difficult to find.
5. Its coloration is not due to iris pigments
Although it may seem strange, people with green eyes do not have them that color because they have pigments of those shades located in those membranes. In fact, the amount of melanin, the substance that gives color to body parts, is relatively low compared to those with dark irises. If we had to attribute a color to the iris, it would be more similar to yellow
What happens is that the shape of the eye and the lens effect it produces cause certain wavelengths of light to be filtered when passing through this organ. It is something similar to what happens when sunlight enters the atmosphere, making the sky appear blue or pink depending on the distance at which the star is at each moment of the day.
6. In the past they were discriminated against
Although today it is considered an attractive feature, there were times in history when the strange and mysterious nature of this hue was what attracted the most attention. Due, many women were considered suspected of being witches if they had green eyes. Add to this the presence of red hair, and the combination could easily lead to execution.