Incredible Facts about Twins

Having a brother or sister is always great. But twins are a special case. They not only look like two drops of water, but also preserve special bonds – like the two halves of a whole. In our review, we have collected interesting facts about twins, and it is not necessarily that two twins should be born, by the way.

1. An annulled marriage

In 2008, a married couple from the UK realized that they were twins, separated at birth. The children happened to live in different families, and years later met and got married, unaware that they were brother and sister. In the end, their marriage was annulled by a court.

2. Different fathers of twins

Twins may have different fathers. It is indeed possible, but the probability of the birth of such twins is 1:400.

3. Milk, cottage cheese, cheese

The women, who eat a lot of dairy products, give birth to twins most often.
Also, the chances of conceiving twins are increased by wild yam.

4. Smile and wave

American twin actresses Olsen had to wear false teeth during the recent seasons of the Full House sitcom because their smiles began to look different. When they were girls, their baby teeth fell out at different speed, so they were made “an identical smile.”

5. A quartet marriage

If identical male twins have children in a marriage with identical female twins, their children will legally be cousins, but genetically they will be brothers or sisters. When twins marry other twins, it is called “a quartet marriage.”

6. 7 triplets and 4 quadruplets

The largest number of children born by a woman is 69. At the age of 40 years, the woman had 16 twins, 7 triplets, and 4 quadruplets. The outstanding mother-heroine died at the age of 93 in 2010.

7. A unique smell

Each person has his/her completely unique smell. However, twins are an exception. Twins have the same DNA and also the same odor. Only dogs can be trained to distinguish between twins, even if they live in the same environment and eat the same foods.

8. Olsen sisters

Despite the fact that the Olsen sisters are very similar in appearance, they are not identical. The sisters look like monozygotic (identical) twins, but in fact they are dizygotic, that is they have different DNA.

9. Siamese twins

The first registered Siamese twins gave birth to a total of 21 children, and there are more than 1,500 of their descendants now. Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker were born in 1811, spent their childhood in the United Kingdom, and then moved to Thailand.

10. Sweet Dutch dolls

Ernest Hemingway’s mother dressed the boy in his sister’s clothes because she had dreamed of twins. He had a sister named Marcelline, and his mother affectionately called Hemingway “Ernestine”. The mother also called them both “sweet Dutch dolls.”

11. Fingerprints

Identical (monozygotic) twins have different fingerprints. Fingerprints are formed during the mother’s pregnancy, but after the separation of the embryos.

12. Massachusetts is the state of twins

In the US state of Massachusetts, the largest number of twins in the United States is registered.
Five out of a hundred newborns in the state are twins.

13. First friends

Twins are in contact with each other in the womb. At the age of 14 weeks, twins can reach out to each other, and by the 18th week they tend to touch each other more often than themselves.

14. Babies’ babbling

Some twins develop their own language. Twins can develop their own speech models in the absence of adults. They spend a lot of time together and have a lot of speech practice. Unfortunately, this language is forgotten, when babies are taught “real” language.

15. Follicle-stimulating hormone

The mother’s chances of getting pregnant with twins increase with age. At the age of over 35 years, women produce more follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH) than in younger age. This hormone increases the chances of giving birth to twins. Ironically, this very hormone reduces a woman’s chance of getting pregnant.

16. The chances of having twins

Male twins can also have twins if their wives produce two eggs at once. A woman’s chance to give birth to twins increases, if she is a dizygotic twin or she already has twins.

17. Left-handers

22 percent of twins are left-handed, while among ordinary people there are only 10% left-handers. There is even a theory that twins begin to become left-handed in the womb.

18. The highest rate of twin births is in Nigeria

Nigeria has the world’s highest level of giving birth to twins, both identical and dizygotic. One of the lowest rates of twin births is registered… in China.

19. The average weight of twins

The average birth weight of twins is 2.4 kg. But Hannah and Thomas from Derbyshire, England, clearly did not want to be like others, and their total weight at birth was 8 kg.

20. Polar bear twins

Twins among polar bears are a common phenomenon. In fact, they often give birth to twins, and much less frequently to three or one cub. Female polar bears may produce cubs up to the age of 25 years.

We hope, you enjoyed these interesting facts about twins. But if you want more, just find out more incredible facts about twins.