The Children of the Moon Lencois: Albino Island in Brazil

Lencois Island in the Brazilian state of Maranhão is unique: it has the largest concentration of albinos on the planet. The island was first talked about on the television in the 1970s: then there were 18 albinos among 450 locals here. This is a very large indicator, and it exceeds the world average by 6 thousand times (3% versus 0.0005%).

Today there are fewer people with a rare mutation: only six people. Many have moved to other cities where there is no such scorching sun hostile to their appearance, the life of others has been taken away by skin cancer, and there are those who have devoted themselves to the study of genetic mutations. In Lencois, they are called the children of the Moon because they don’t go outside during the day, but only in the evening appear in the fresh air.

When information about the island spread in the media, scientists came here to study a rare phenomenon. However, the secret of the islanders' albinism turned out to be very prosaic: all of them are descendants of a Portuguese who sailed to the island a couple of centuries ago. He was an albino. Decades of isolation have done their job: the anomaly has been transmitted to the local population.

Today, local residents of Lencois live as simple as the first settlers: men go fishing and women do housework. Their houses are more like huts, and electricity appeared only in 2009. There are several small shops, and for tourists - one small family hotel.