“Many of the Earth's habitats, animals, plants, insects, and even micro-organisms that we know as rare may not be known at all by future generations. We have the capability, and the responsibility. We must act before it is too late” The Dalai Llama.
For ages, children have delighted in the toy versions of the animals thought to be the cutest, the cuddliest, and the most lovable. Toy stores have isles devoted in their entirety to stuffed bears, tigers, lions, etc. People so delighted by these cheap imitations in fact, many have turned a blind eye to the predicaments facing the real live animals; extinction. Thanks to human kind’s helping hand, many species of animals have been excessively hunted and had their habitats destroyed.
This is not news to you. When you open a National Geographic you may feel pity, anger or even possibly a vague sense of guilt, but no sense of surprise. However, a National Geographic article in the September 2007 issue did create quite the stir with its prediction of the extinction of the possibly cutest and cuddliest characters of all, the Raggedy Anns and the Raggedy Andys of this world.
Due to many contributing factors, such as international intermingling, less than one percent of the world’s population is natural redheads making it the most uncommon natural hair color. Many geneticists have reason to believe redheads are a dying breed. It has been said that within the next 100 years redheads may be extinct, some pessimists even place it as early as 2060. The extinction of redheads in 53 years is unlikely though because the recessive gene causing red hair can lay dormant for generations.
Most cases of red hair are due to a mutation to the MC1R gene. Melanocortin-1 (MC1R) is one of the key proteins in regulating the pigments hair and skin color, and the MC1R gene is essentially a pattern for making the MC1R protein. There are two main pigments in humans, black eumelanin and red pheomelanin. MC1R gene mutations that result in a loss of function are associated with increased pheomelanin production, leading to lighter skin and red hair. Eighty percent of all red heads have this gene variant.
The red-hair gene is recessive and only four percent of the world actually carries the gene. Due to its recessive nature it becomes diluted when carriers reproduce with those who have the dominant hair, therefore putting redheads on the endangered list. However, many scientists are skeptical of extinction, stating that four percent of 6.4 billion people is too large a figure to wipe out in the next ninety-five years. Dr. David Pearce of the University of Rochester of Medical Center also points out that while the red-hair gene “will dilute and become rare, but there are a variety of other factors that can change hair color that are not really understood well right now."
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No! They cant take my red hair! Sorry its just scary to think of, I am a natural red head, and I know how few we are, but to be no more the thought is frightening. Is there a way to stop it, or is this just a natural process that will happen?
The reason why there are so few, is there is a lack of red heads...for lack of a better word, reproducing with other red heads or carriers of the red-hair gene. It seems the brunettes of the world are taking over, I mean natural blondes only populate two percent of the world's population.
Pray for Peace
-Crissy