Biological Puzzles

Radley Balko asks, “Why does Tanzania have so many Albinos?”

I’m afraid I can’t offer much insight into that one.  I do, however, know why the monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga thanks to Johns Ford and Wayne.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. odograph says:

    This item is very “tyler cowen”

  2. Dave Schuler says:

    It runs in families. Clearly, there are some family strains in Tanzania that are predisposed to it.

    Albinism can be a pretty big problem, particularly in tropical countries. A variety of eye conditions, some serious, are associated with it and skin cancer is a definite risk.

  3. Triumph says:

    Radley Balko asks, “Why does Tanzania have so many Albinos?”

    I’m afraid I can’t offer much insight into that one.

    Let’s remember that Tanzania was the birthplace of the notorious communist and pan-Africanist Julius Nyerere who imposed his red ideology on the people with an iron fist for 20 years.

    Given the penchant of commies to control society, the prevalence of albinos probably is part of some lamebrain liberal plan of Nyerere’s to promote “multiculturalism.”

  4. Bill says:

    The non-loaded answer is “lower incidence of genetic recombination.”

    The loaded answer is “higher rates of inbreeding.”

  5. John Burgess says:

    Interestingly/oddly, there’s a section of the lower MD peninsula, around the towns of TB and Brandywine, that also has a high incidence of albinism.

  6. Dave Schuler says:

    BTW, there’s an interesting NIH study on albinism as a public health issue in Africa. Apparently, the greatest prevalence of the condition there is among the Tonga tribe of Zimbabwe, 1/1,000.