I’m not asking about dark or light. I’m asking why not shades of blue or green?
Bonus question: hypothetically, what factors could lead to other skin colors, like the aliens in avatar?
In: 18
Without melanin your skin and your hair would be white. Your eyes would be colorless so you could see the red bloodvessels.
Because the melanin is used to filter blue and UV-light the skin has a yellow/reddish or light beige tint. But for the production of Vitamine D a portion of blue/uv-light is used. So in region where the sun irradiation is high (equator zone) people have a darker or almost black tone. The downside for this people is that when they move to temperate zones usually have a Vitamine D deficiency. Light skinned people moving to the equator zone get a skin irritation(sun burn).
Mammals living in the sea (whales, dolphins) have usually a grey colored skin, while mammals living at the sea(seals) have usually a black skin.
Mammals on land have black or brown skin, even white horses. The only exception I can think of are albinoes (those with red eyes).
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