Bad weather blamed for Scotland having 'more people with ginger hair'

Scotland’s notoriously bad weather appears to be behind why more of the country’s population appeared to be blessed with ginger hair, new research has claimed.

The non scientific research found that in areas where the temperatures in summer were cooler and winter days were shorter – such as in Scotland – people with ginger hair were more likely to survive and evolve.

This was compared to people with the trait living in places with hot temperatures, such as Africa where humans are thought to have evolved, where people with a ginger hair genetic strain were more likely die.



Emily Pritchard, a 26 year-old University of Edinburgh genetics student, made the link to Scottish people, after writing a story for the university's magazine about her sister’s red hair.

It could offer up a reason why more people in Scotland appeared to have ginger hair than elsewhere throughout Europe.

It was based on previous research that found humans who had evolved in Africa, who had the less than beneficial genetic trait, were more likely to develop skin cancer from sunburn because of their fair skin.