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What is the Origin and Reason for Gray Eyes?

Chapters:
0:00 Gray Eyes
0:35 Gray vs Blue Eyes
1:23 Origin of Gray Eyes
2:08 Physiological Reasons for Gray Eyes
4:59 Broader Reason for Gray Eyes

What is the origin of gray eyes, what are some of the differences between gray and blue eyes, and why did gray eyes develop in the first place? Now gray eyes are generally considered the secondrarest eye color in the world after green, with estimates of around 3% of the global population having them, and they are super rare in the US, at less than 1% of the population.

An interesting point to note is that gray eyes were actually included in the first ever Clinical iris colour classification scale going all the way back to 1843. The scale included 5 color categories: Gray; Blue; Hazel; Brown; & Black. So how can you tell if you have gray eyes vs blue eyes? Well although this isn’t an exact science, gray eyes obviously have much more of a gray hue to them than blue eyes and usually look a bit more cloudy. Under magnification as well, gray eyes often exhibit small flecks of yellow and brown in the iris, with this photo showing that detail quite well.

Although people with blue eyes can also have flecks of other colors as well, my eyes are blue for instance but they have flecks of yellow in them, it is more unusual for people with blue eyes to have flecks of brown in them as well. It can be tricky however to separate certain eye colors in general, especially in certain lighting conditions. To make matters more confusing as well, there can also be variations in color and hybrid eye colors, with Bluegrey, greengrey, and even hazelgrey hues possible.

So what is the origin of gray eyes? What we do know is that gray eyes, although rare, are found in higher rates among the Algerian Shawia people of Northwest Africa, as well as in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. They are also found at relatively higher rates in Europe, especially in countries such as Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Ireland and Finland.

Now let’s look at some of the physiological reasons and theories for gray eyes, which also further explains how they differ from blue eyes.

Sources:

Eye color https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_color

Gray eyes: A rare and beautiful eye color https://www.allaboutvision.com/eyeca...

Understanding Genetics: Human Health and the Genome (archive.org)

The World's Population By Eye Color https://www.worldatlas.com/society/th...

Grigore M, Avram A. IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALESTHEN AND NOW. Rom J Ophthalmol. 2015 JanMar;59(1):2933. PMID: 27373112; PMCID: PMC5729215 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Grey Eyes: How Rare Are They? https://www.warbyparker.com/learn/gre...

What color are your eyes exactly? https://www.edow.com/generaleyecare....

How to Feel Energized & Sleep Better With One Morning Activity | Dr. Andrew Huberman (youtube.com)

Why People With Gray Eyes Are More Sensitive To Light (healthdigest.com)

Light therapy: Not just for seasonal depression? Harvard Health

Why is the sky blue? Met Office

Are grey eyes rare? Discover more about this unique eye colour Are grey eyes rare? Discover more about this unique eye colour Glasses Direct Blog

The World's Population By Eye Color WorldAtlas

Chaoui people Wikipedia

Melanin Wikipedia

Mie scattering Wikipedia

Rayleigh scattering Wikipedia

Andrew Huberman https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/and...

Creative Commons Imagery:

Martin Mystère File:Gray eye, Northern Italy.jpg Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons AttributionShare Alike 4.0 International license. CC BYSA 4.0 Deed | AttributionShareAlike 4.0 International | Creative Commons

Deanern1 File:Gray eyes.jpg Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons AttributionShare Alike 3.0 Unported license. CC BYSA 3.0 Deed | AttributionShareAlike 3.0 Unported | Creative Commons

#grayeyes #genetics #ancestry