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Black Couple Surprised When Newborn Daughter is White
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
Imagine the surprise of a black Nigerian couple in London when they discovered their newborn baby was a white girl.
No, it's not the second coming of Michael Jackson.
Professor Bryan Sykes, the head of human genetics at Oxford University, tells the British newspaper The Sun there's a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation for this sort of phenomenon: These things happen.
But they don't happen often. Ben and Angela Ihegboro tell the newspaper they didn't think they had any white ancestry, but Sykes says there must be a white skeleton in one of their family closets for Angela to give birth July 19 to a California surfer girl.
Newborn Nmachi has blue eyes and blond hair that would put Paris Hilton to shame.She is not, however, albino. Sykes tells The Sun that Ben and/or Angela must "have some form of white ancestry" in their DNA blueprint for such characteristics to be tucked away and forgotten in the back pocket of their genes.
It's puzzling, Sykes tells the newspaper.
"This might be the case where there is a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations," he says. "But in Nigeria, there is little mixing."
Sykes adds Nmachi's appearance is a mystery all the way around.
"The hair is extremely unusual," he tells the newspaper. "Even many blonde children don't have blonde hair like this at birth."
Ben Ihegboro, 44, was understandably, uh, concerned when Nmachi was born.
"Actually, the first thing I did was look at her and say, 'What the flip?' " he tells the Sun. "I'm sure she's my kid. I just don't know why she's blond."
Angela Ihegboro, 35, spoke like a typical new mom.
"She's beautiful -- a miracle baby," she tells the paper. In fact, the name Nmachi is Nigerian for "Beauty of God."
Nmachi is the couple's third child. She joins 4-year-old brother Chisom and 2-year-old sister Dumebi, both of whom share their parents' dark skin.
Ben Ihegboro tells the Sun that Chisom keeps staring at his new sister with a puzzled expression.
"We're a black family. Suddenly he has a white sister," he tells the paper. "Of course, we are baffled, too, and want to know what's happened. But we understand life is very strange. All that matters is that she's healthy and that we love her. She's a proud British Nigerian."
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ReaderComments (Page 4 of 4)
5-28-2011 @ 9:46AM
DPJ said...I've read some of the comments on this story here and I just don't understand why no one has come out and said it: The mother obviously had sex with a white guy behind her husband's back. HELLO.
Reply
5-28-2011 @ 12:31PM
oldschooldad said...I myself would do an DNA it would just be eating at me until I knew for sure, and if there is someone else out they go, just not worth wasting your life on a cheating women, if they did it once they would do it again.
Reply
5-28-2011 @ 8:01PM
Pat Cooper said...I live In Louisiana I have seen three children like this
Reply
6-05-2011 @ 4:47PM
Dee said...This really isn't that strange or mystifying or indicative of infidelity, just a genetic mutation. It's like when zoos release a report of an all-white kangaroo being born to normal kangaroo parents. Just a genetic mutation. The baby's healthy and loved, enough said.
Reply
6-01-2011 @ 7:08PM
jimmyhat said...Dat what is called a trick baby in da hood.Da wife,she be sleepin wit da enemy.He a cuckhold daddy.
Reply
6-08-2011 @ 6:50PM
Arden said...Who cares what color she is? She is a beaUTIFUL CHILD WHO WILL BE MUCHED LOVED. Why does color matter so much to so many people???
Reply
6-09-2011 @ 12:36PM
Lisa said...My Dad and Mom had almost black hair and brown eyes, I had blond hair as a child then it was brownish red, and one brother and I have green eyes. My parents had straight hair and 3 of us kids have curly. I know someone who is very fair skinned whose partner was very dark black skinned, the baby is very fair with blond curly hair. Furthermore, I saw a documentary where they took DNA from thousands of volunteers in NY of all races and they all began from a single black couple in a remote village in Africa. Interesting stuff.
Reply
6-09-2011 @ 4:56PM
Just Sayin' said...what color is the gardener? what color is the milkman? what color is the dude who pumps gas in her car? lol
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6-09-2011 @ 4:52PM
katiej said...This is not as unusual as we may think. God created the earth and black people created white people. It's as simple as that. This is not a racial attack, this is science.
I don't mean to start a race war on the internet, but where do white people think they came from? If life began on Africa, who do you think you came from?
This is your proof: Two black people can create a white baby.....and it's not the first time.
Here's the story: At some point, Africans began having white babies (black albinos). They grew up and eventually had to migrate to a colder climate because the extreme heat damaged their skin. They settled in Europe's Caucasus Mountains. Some broke off over the years and went to Asia and other parts of the world. Wherever they landed, their features evolved based on the environment. Their noses were too wide for the cold air-> they became thinner and narrower. The heat no longer inhibited the growth of their hair, so it no longer coiled--> straight hair.
Why do most Asians have "slanted" eyes? Because the white Africans who migrated to Mongolia developed epicanthal folds on their eyes to protect them from the extreme sunlight and colder weather.
We're everywhere and a part of everyone!
Reply
6-09-2011 @ 8:12PM
lois said...Exactly right. Look at the people in the Middle East they are dark and brown eyes. I see Jesus in many different colors. He loves us all just the same. Oh by the way i am a light, blonde hair green eyed woman. I am not prejudiced, and i have known a lot of darker color people and they are just the same as us.
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6-11-2011 @ 12:17PM
A said...ok the child is ALBINO.....
Reply
6-13-2011 @ 4:10PM
RacistsH8Themselves said...I am a medium skin toned African American female with medium brown eyes. My husband is a light skinned Puerto Rican with medium brown eyes that look like they are ringed in red. We have three daughters. The first one has blue eyes that turn grey when she is angry or sad. The second daughter has dark brown eyes. Our third daughter has green eyes that turn hazel in the sun. The first child is has the lightest skin tone, the second has the darkest and the third is in between the first and second. All three of them are lighter than I am yet darker than their father. Thirty five years ago my OB doctor told me that anything is possible and that nothing is impossible. God blessed you with what he wanted you to have. God makes no mistakes and all of us are unique and created equally. My OB doctor was white. In other words, teach your children to love themselves and others while showing them that you are doing the same.
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6-13-2011 @ 5:51PM
Trinh said...It's great the parents accept the baby.
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6-14-2011 @ 6:47PM
Babygirl said...People be for real. How many Caucasian babies have you seen born with a full head if hair? Most "C" babies are born nearly, if not completely, bald. Every nationality has either some white or black in their gene pool. I am brown-skinned with naturally green eyes and straight hair and I have a sister that is light-skinned, almost white, and she has brown eyes and somewhat nappy hair Yes, a DNA test was done on both our parents and they belong to us. So, before you start spewing ridiculous scenarios and outrageous comments....as they say; "s**t happens".
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6-14-2011 @ 6:50PM
Babygirl said...They are all the same color as you: green with envy.
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6-21-2011 @ 4:14PM
lu said...What a charming family. Nature works in wonderous ways. Alot of families have a "ugly duckling or red head " not saying she is one. Just saying it happens and they have the right attitude.
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