I think we appreciate our animals a lot more than we do our fellow humans..

[Khrysty]

So my favorite add-on to Mozilla Firefox is the "stumble-upon" feature. If you don't have it, Google it, download it, thank me for it later

I was "stumbling" and came across a "7 Most Bizarre Skin Conditions" article. Some were caused by obvious viruses/illnesses, but there are two genetic mutations that I was interested in:Blaschko's lines and Vitiligo

(Blaschko's Lines picture from flatrock.org)

(Vitiligo picture from freethought-forum.com)

I was struck with a thought:
Seeing these genetic mutations on a gecko, we would immediately search for another of the like, and breed more geckos. We'd show it off as a "new morph" and pride ourselves on finding such a fascinating coloration. We'd sell for thousands of dollars.

Why, then, do we expect all humans to fall into certain categories and, at best, stare at them awkwardly when they don't, or outwardly shun them at worst? Why wouldn't we want to have more people with fascinating patterns on their bodies if it doesn't cause them any harm?

We tattoo our bodies...how is a "natural" tattoo any different?

Just a thought.

 

[fallen_angel]

People overall are quick to judge and afraid of what they don't understand.

I think the second pic looks pretty darn cool, really.

 

[Khrysty]

People are afraid of what they don't understand.

I think the second pic looks pretty darn cool, really.

So do I! I wish people were a little more accepting--I've always been fascinated with variations of skin color.

 

[ariana]

i agree with jess. i completely agree with you khrysty.

 

[fallen_angel]

That first one is pretty crazy too.. reminds me of layers of rock

 

[Alusdra]

Well... if I didn't know that they were likely caused by chimerism and thus not able to be passed on to offspring... hells yes! I'll volunteer to help with the breeding project. One genetic condition I do like is the different eye color thing. And that CAN be passed on to offspring. Though one is linked to sort of ugly facial features... but the eyes alone = hotness.

 

[Khrysty]

Ahh yeah the eye color thing is pretty cool!

 

[paulnj]

People overall are quick to judge and afraid of what they don't understand.

I think the second pic looks pretty darn cool, really.

Ask the kid who accuse MJ what he thought of it

 

[Kitsune]

Well... if I didn't know that they were likely caused by chimerism and thus not able to be passed on to offspring... hells yes! I'll volunteer to help with the breeding project. One genetic condition I do like is the different eye color thing. And that CAN be passed on to offspring. Though one is linked to sort of ugly facial features... but the eyes alone = hotness.

My older sister has one brown eye and one blue eye. She used to get made fun of so much growing up... =/ I think it's awesome~

 

[fallen_angel]

I used to wear two different colored contacts on purpose, to have diff. colored eyes :main_laugh: good times

 

[LeapinLizards]

I've always wanted two different colored eyes! I think Kate Bosworth is AMAZINGLY gorgeous for that exact reason...her different pigmented eye.

 

[RampantReptiles]

I've always wanted two different colored eyes! I think Kate Bosworth is AMAZINGLY gorgeous for that exact reason...her different pigmented eye.

OMG Ive seen her in tons of movies and never even noticed she had two different colored eyes. It looks awesome.
I like the pictures of the two skin conditions. Mainly the second one. I wish I were that tan :cry:

 

[Alusdra]

Can you imagine putting on sunblock though? It must be a pain! What if you needed 40 SPF on the white parts, but never burned on the dark parts? I guess you could just do 40 all over... Although, depending on if you wanted to enhance it or not- put 40 on the dark parts, 25 on the light or vice versa.

 

[Khrysty]

Ooh that would sort of suck. Although, i mean...with skin that dark I'd probably just put intense sunblock everywhere.

 

[fallen_angel]

I didn't realize Kate Bosworth had different colored eyes! She's very gorgeous as it is, that's a nice little plus though, for sure

 

[LizMarie]

Khrysty, that was a very interesting observation. I personally would have never looked at it that way. It's amazing isn't it? People aren't very accepting of differences between human beings but once some animal comes out with some rare genetic mutation we praise it and put the biggest price tag on them but the min. a person looks different most people do nothing but ridicule them as if they're some time of second class being.

 

[Khrysty]

I was going to say I wonder why that is...but I think we have a really tough time stepping outside of ourselves.

We have no need to when it comes to other species so the animals we breed, keep, discover are all wonderful and beautiful to us, but within our own species, we just have the damnedest time looking at things objectively. Anything that's foreign, is wrong. End of story.

Makes me wonder how we can, or if it's even possible to, change that frame of mind..

 

[jmlslayer]

the 2nd pic looks like the trait Pied LOL thats cool