In an intriguing demonstration of genetics at work, a black couple from South London gave birth to a baby girl who looks almost nothing like them.
The baby with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin is an anomaly that baffles genetic experts.
Parents Ben and Angela Ihegboro were shocked to see their new baby so different from themselves and their previous children. The couple doesn’t have any mixed-race family or family with fair skin that could explain the baby’s appearance.
While the couple knows the baby is theirs, they remain puzzled by the event.
“Actually, the first thing I did was look at her and say, ‘What is this?'”
The couple named the little girl Nmachi, which means “Beauty of God” in the Nigerian homeland of the couple.
Doctors are certain that the little girl is not albino. Professor Bryan Sykes, head of human genetics at the University of Oxford, states that her birth is extraordinary in terms of genetics.
In the absence of white ancestry causing the event, there’s a strong chance an unknown genetic mutation occurred.
“In mixed-race humans, a lighter variant of skin tone can appear in a child — and it can sometimes be remarkably different from the parents’ skin.
This might happen where there’s a lot of genetic mixing, as in Afro-Caribbean populations. But in Nigeria, there’s little mixing.”
Of course, we’re also puzzled and want to know what happened. But we understand that life is very strange.
“All that matters is that she is healthy, and we love her. She is a proud Nigerian Briton.”
