We at Mega Curioso have talked about color blindness on several occasions, but basically it refers to a visual condition that consists in the difficulty of differentiating some colors from others, such as blue from yellow and green from red, for example. . This disorder, which is almost always hereditary, is caused by a change in the pigment of the cones, one of the photoreceptors present in our eyes.

The most common types of color blindness are protanopia, which is characterized by vision that is predominantly brown, beige, green or gray, deuteranopia, which is brown-toned vision, and tritanopia, which is characterized by pink-tinged vision. . However, there is also a very small group of people who have a condition called achromatopsia, which means they have achromatic vision and only see in shades of white, gray and black.

Child with achromatopsia photographed by Belgian Sanne de Wilde

Because, according to Wired's Laura Mallone, while the most common types of color blindness affect 1 in 12 men or 1 in 100 women, only 1 in 30, 000 people are born with achromatopsia - which means only 0, 0003% of the world's population has this problem. However, there is a place where the rate of people with this condition is surprisingly high, up to 10% of the locals!

Unusual place

According to Laura, this place is Pingelap Island, located in Micronesia, a beautiful tropical paradise full of birds, fish and other multicolored animals, lush vegetation and white sands bathed by the sun and a breathtaking turquoise sea. However, a considerable part of the island's population cannot distinguish this burst of color because of its achromatic vision.

(BBC)

As if that were not sad enough, as well as not being able to see colors, people with achromatopsia are hypersensitive to light and often suffer from a host of other visual problems. And how did this little island - which has an area of ​​about 1.8 square kilometers - come together so many individuals with achromatic vision?

As neurologist Oliver Sacks explained in his book, " The Island of the Colorblind, " in the late 18th century, Pingelap's population was almost completely razed to a typhoon that struck the island. Only a few inhabitants survived the event, including the local king, who, as you may have guessed, suffered from achromatopsia.

Pingelap Inhabitant (BBC)

As this is an inherited condition, many of its descendants were born with the condition, and as the island is a relatively isolated place, there is no wide genetic variety among the inhabitants. Pingelap currently has a population of just over 200, who live on fishing and fruit farming, and has only one elementary school, one paved street and two churches, but is famous for having an extraordinarily high number (proportionally speaking). of course!) from individuals who do not see any color.