QUOTE(Desertyeti @ Dec 6 2004, 03:05 PM)
An anthropologist I know has suggested that climate has something to do with it.
Animals from colder climates generally have lighter hair than those from tropical climates. Bears are an obvious example, with polar bears in the north and brown black bears in the northern forests with more black black bears in the south. Could be something similar, with the need to balance u.v. protection, cmouflage, and enough sunlight reaching the skin to generate vitamin D.
Or so I've heard...
That could also be a viable alternative, or something, somewhere in between.