Climate change will decline red hair population in Scotland

Experts sate that the population of people with red hair is at the danger of becoming extinct eventually thanks to the alterations in the Scottish weather brought about by climate change.

The gene behind this red hair is the ginger gene. Traditionally this gene is expected to an evolutionary response to cloudy skies of Scotland and allows inhabitants to absorb larger amounts of Vitamin D. However, due to the rising temperatures and less cloud cover the gene may die out soon.

Edinburgh in Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads. There around 40 per cent of the people have the ginger gene including include pop star Shirley Manson.

On this Shawn Hitchins, who led a "ginger pride" march in Edinburgh last year says that researchers should put in more energy into finding ways to save the redheads rather than on researching on the fact that how redheads will soon disappear.

A similar study conducted last year said that red-headed individuals are 100 times more susceptible to developing melanoma which is a skin cancer that claimed more than 2,000 lives a year in the UK.

Dr Alistair Moffat, managing director of Scotlands DNA, said, "If it was to get less cloudy and there was more sun, there would be fewer people carrying the gene".

This total extinction of the ginger gene will take many hundreds of years to happen.

Alistair Moffat