Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Weird News from UK: Nigerians Give Birth to White Blue-Eyed Blonde Girl
A black couple have amazed medical experts after their baby daughter was born with white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. Benjamin and Angela Ihegboro’s daughter, Nmachi, has flummoxed genetic experts who are unable to explain why she looks the way she does.
{No the blog pik isn't the couple's baby, but can you imagine what the kid looks like...}
Doctors said the white-skinned newborn is not an albino. The blonde, blue-eyed girl’s Nigerian parents said they did not know of any white ancestry in either of their families. Genetics professors expressed amazement at the birth last night.“The birth is extraordinary,” said Professor Bryan Sykes, head of human genetics at Oxford University.
“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.” Professor Sykes said both parents would have needed “some form of white ancestry.”
He added: “The hair is extremely unusual. Even many blonde children don’t have blonde hair like this at birth. “The rules of genetics are complex and we still don’t understand what happens in many cases. “This might be a case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations.
“But in Nigeria there is little mixing.” The British couple are both of Igbo Nigerian origin and have dark skin... Despite jokingly asking whether he was the father, Mr Igegboro said: “Of course she is mine. “My wife is true to me. Even if she hadn’t been, the baby wouldn’t have looked like that!”
Pale skin genes can skip generations but neither Ben nor Angela Ihegboro –– who only moved to Britain five years ago –– know of any white heritage in either of their families.
The couple also have an older daughter, Dumebi, two, and a son, Chisom, four. Mr Ihegboro said the couple’s son was even more confused than them. He added: “Our boy keeps coming to look at his sister and sits down looking puzzled. “We are a black family. Suddenly he has a white sister. ‘But all that matters is that she is healthy and that we love her.’
Click link to see picture of couple with their other two kids
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...
{No the blog pik isn't the couple's baby, but can you imagine what the kid looks like...}
Doctors said the white-skinned newborn is not an albino. The blonde, blue-eyed girl’s Nigerian parents said they did not know of any white ancestry in either of their families. Genetics professors expressed amazement at the birth last night.“The birth is extraordinary,” said Professor Bryan Sykes, head of human genetics at Oxford University.
“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.” Professor Sykes said both parents would have needed “some form of white ancestry.”
He added: “The hair is extremely unusual. Even many blonde children don’t have blonde hair like this at birth. “The rules of genetics are complex and we still don’t understand what happens in many cases. “This might be a case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations.
“But in Nigeria there is little mixing.” The British couple are both of Igbo Nigerian origin and have dark skin... Despite jokingly asking whether he was the father, Mr Igegboro said: “Of course she is mine. “My wife is true to me. Even if she hadn’t been, the baby wouldn’t have looked like that!”
Pale skin genes can skip generations but neither Ben nor Angela Ihegboro –– who only moved to Britain five years ago –– know of any white heritage in either of their families.
The couple also have an older daughter, Dumebi, two, and a son, Chisom, four. Mr Ihegboro said the couple’s son was even more confused than them. He added: “Our boy keeps coming to look at his sister and sits down looking puzzled. “We are a black family. Suddenly he has a white sister. ‘But all that matters is that she is healthy and that we love her.’
Click link to see picture of couple with their other two kids
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...
I remember reading a similar story in a Jet magazine once. Mr. Ihegboro is right, ‘all that matters is that she is healthy and that we love her.’