which is a minority lineage in Melanesia, and have a very low frequency of the dominant Melanesian y-DNA K2b1. A significant minority of them also belongs to the typical East Asian male Haplogroup O-M175. Some recent studies suggest that all humans outside of Sub-Saharan Africa have inherited some genes from Neanderthals, and that Melanesians are the only known modern humans whose prehistoric ancestors interbred with the Denisova hominin, sharing 4%–6% of their genome with this ancient cousin of the Neanderthal. Incidence of blond hair in Melanesia Blond hair is rare in native populations outside of Europe. It evolved independently in Melanesia, where Melanesians of some islands (along with some indigenous Australians) are one of a few groups not descended from Europeans who have blond hair. This has been traced to an allele of TYRP1 unique to these people, and is not the same gene that causes blond hair in Europeans. As with blond hair that arose in Europe and parts of Asia, incidence of blondness is more common in children than in adults, with hair tending to darken as the individual matures. Melanesian areas of Oceania The predominantly Melanesian areas of Oceania include New Guinea and surrounding islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. New Caledonia and nearby Loyalty Islands for most of their history have had a majority Melanesian population, but the proportion has dropped to 43% in the face of modern immigration. The largest and most populous Melanesian country is Papua New Guinea. The largest city in Melanesia is Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea with about 318,000 people, mostly of Melanesian ancestry. The western half of New Guinea is part of Indonesia and is predomimantly inhabited by indigenous Papuans, with a signifact minority of settlers from other parts of Indonesia. In Australia, the total population of Torres Strait Islanders, a Melanesian people, , was about 38,700 identifying as being of Torres Strait Islander origin only, and 32,200 of both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander origin (a total of 70,900). See also Indigenous people of New Guinea List of ethnic groups of Indonesian New Guinea References Ethnic groups in Australia Ethnic groups in Indonesia Ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea Ethnic groups in the Solomon Islands Ethnic groups in Vanuatu Ethnic groups in Fiji Ethnic groups in New Caledonia Austronesian peoples