There are 7 different kinds of twins: Identical, Fraternal, Half-Identical, Mirror Image, Mixed Chromosome, Superfecundation, Superfetation.
Twins may be genetically identical, having been formed from one fertilized egg, which split into two cells both of which became implanted. Non-identical twins are formed when two different eggs are fertilized at the same time.
In 1100, twin girls reputedly joined at the hips and shoulder, were born in the South East England village of Biddenden. The twins, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, were born to fairly wealthy parents.
At that time, conjoined twins having separate heads were baptized separately whereas twins with a shared head and thorax (cephalothoracopagus) were considered to be a single individual.
When Mary died at the age of 34, doctors suggested a separation but Eliza refused. She died within six hours after declaring, "As we came together, we will also go together".
The Biddenden Maids bequeathed five plots of land to the village church wardens. The income from these lands was used to pay for an annual dole of bread, cheese and beer for the poor every Easter Since at least 1775, the dole has included Biddenden cakes, hard biscuits imprinted with an image of the Maids, as well as 300 quartern loaves and cheese.
In the 19th century, the fame of conjoined twin brothers Chang and Eng Bunker propelled the expression "Siamese twins". They coined the term to refer to themselves, and it became synonymous for conjoined twins in general.
Chang and Eng Bunker married sisters Sarah Ann and Adelaide Yates, and between them had 21 children.
Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette Dionne were the first quintuplets known to survive infancy. They were born near Callender, Ontario, Canada to Oliva and Elzire Dionne on May 10, 1934.
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| Pixiebay |
Twins may be genetically identical, having been formed from one fertilized egg, which split into two cells both of which became implanted. Non-identical twins are formed when two different eggs are fertilized at the same time.
FAMOUS TWINS IN HISTORY
In 1100, twin girls reputedly joined at the hips and shoulder, were born in the South East England village of Biddenden. The twins, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, were born to fairly wealthy parents.
At that time, conjoined twins having separate heads were baptized separately whereas twins with a shared head and thorax (cephalothoracopagus) were considered to be a single individual.
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| An engraving of the Biddenden Maids from Gentleman's Magazine, 1896, |
When Mary died at the age of 34, doctors suggested a separation but Eliza refused. She died within six hours after declaring, "As we came together, we will also go together".
The Biddenden Maids bequeathed five plots of land to the village church wardens. The income from these lands was used to pay for an annual dole of bread, cheese and beer for the poor every Easter Since at least 1775, the dole has included Biddenden cakes, hard biscuits imprinted with an image of the Maids, as well as 300 quartern loaves and cheese.
In the 19th century, the fame of conjoined twin brothers Chang and Eng Bunker propelled the expression "Siamese twins". They coined the term to refer to themselves, and it became synonymous for conjoined twins in general.
Chang and Eng Bunker married sisters Sarah Ann and Adelaide Yates, and between them had 21 children.
Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette Dionne were the first quintuplets known to survive infancy. They were born near Callender, Ontario, Canada to Oliva and Elzire Dionne on May 10, 1934.
The birth of the Dionne quintuplets caused a sensation and quickly became a media sensation, leading to the creation of a tourist industry around the family. Unfortunately, the quintuplets were taken away from their parents by the Ontario government and placed under the guardianship of Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, who oversaw their care and raised them in a specially-built hospital.
The Dionne quintuplets were a major attraction and drew large crowds of tourists. After a legal battle, the quintuplets were returned to their parents in 1943. Despite being celebrated as a medical miracle and a tourist attraction, the Dionne quintuplets' early years were marked by controversy and exploitation, and their story remains a subject of public interest and debate to this day.
Elvis Presley was actually one half of a set of twins. His twin brother, later named Jesse Garon Presley, died during birth, which was not terribly uncommon for a family in 1935 Mississippi.
Two identical twin males, who had been separated by adoption at three weeks, in 1940 suddenly rediscovered each other in Ohio at age 39 on February 9, 1979. Both their adoptive parents coincidentally named them both James. Both men came to be named Jim for short, and that was just the start of it. Both loved carpentry and math, and pursued careers in security. Even stranger, they had each married a woman named Linda got divorced and then remarried a woman named Betty.
Margaret Thatcher had two children, the twins Carol and Mark, who were born six weeks premature in 1953. "Typical of Margaret. She produced twins and avoided the necessity of a second pregnancy," said her husband Denis Thatcher.
Twin brothers Ross and Norris McWhirter were co-founders of The Guinness Book of Records, which they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975.
Between 2006 and 2007 Poland’s prime minister and president were identical twin brothers, Jarosław and Jech Kaczyński. They were the first brothers in history to hold a country’s prime ministership and presidency at the same time.
Krista and Tatiana Hogan (born October 25, 2006) are Canadians conjoined twins, who are joined at the head. Their brains are connected by a thalamic bridge which gives them unique neurological capabilities.The twins can feel and taste what the other is experiencing, hear each other’s thoughts without having to speak and see through one another’s eyes.
The oldest conjoined twins ever (female) Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova were born January 3, 1950 in the Soviet Union and lived 53 years and 104 days. Masha and Dasha were a rare form of conjoined twins - two heads, four arms and two legs.
Twins Amy and Katie Jones-Elliott of Glenmore, Co Kilkenny, Ireland were born 87 days apart setting a new world record. Maria Jones-Elliott went into labor four months early, giving birth to Amy on June 1, 2012, but Katie did not arrive until three months later on August 27, 2012. The previous record is 84 days.
Twins Ann Hunt and Elizabeth Hamel were separated soon after they were born in Aldershot, England, to their unmarried domestic servant mother on February 28, 1936. They didn't see each other again for a record 78 years. Elizabeth was kept because she had curvature of the spine and her mother thought that it would be difficult for her to be adopted. Ann, who was adopted, grew up an only child.
As an adult, Elizabeth met an American and moved to Oregon in the United States. When they met in 2014, they discovered they had both married men called Jim.
Igbo Ora, a town in Nigeria, boasts the highest number of twin births in the world. The town, which in the south west part of Nigeria, has a documented 50 sets of twins born out of every 1,000 live births. Locals say it is due to an okra leaf they eat. One woman says it’s responsible for her having eight pairs of twins.
The village Kodinhi in India has the highest twin rate in the world, with over 400 twins in about 2000 families. Scientists aren't sure of why this is, but it has been observed that even when women of Kodinhi have children with men outside of their village, the twin birth rate is still high.
The odds against someone having twins is about 90:1.
The number of triplets born in the US in 1994 (4,594) was more than triple the number born in 1971 (1,034), an increase attributed to older age of the mothers and the use of fertility-enhancing drugs and techniques.
Left-handedness is extremely common in twins. It is unusual, however, for both to be left-handed.
You can tell identical twin babies apart from their navels, since navel is a scar and thus they're different.
Twins interact with each other in the womb as early as 14 weeks into the pregnancy.
After just under a year in space, astronaut Scott Kelly's gene expression changed significantly and is different than his identical twin brother's DNA.
The actor Tom Berenger once owned a restaurant called Twins, where the waitstaff consisted of 29 sets of identical twins.
Two brothers from a set of triplets fooled a Russian prison in 1992 when one brother named Roman swapped places with the other called Rusian to give him a brief taste of freedom. Rather than returning, Rusian ran off with his brother's girlfriend, leaving Roman to serve the rest of his twin's sentence. It took years for the authorities to realize they had been duped.
There have been several cases whereby identical twins are acquitted of crimes even though one of them is a definitely guilty as identical twins have almost identical DNA and legal system cannot afford to punish the wrong twin for the crime.
In 2009 identical twins Hassan and Abbas O. were suspects in a $6.8 million jewelry heist. DNA matching the twins was found but they had to be released citing "we can deduce that at least one of the brothers took part in the crime, but it has not been possible to determine which one."
Emily and Seth Peterson, who live in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, welcomed their new baby boys in the early hours of November 6, 2016. Samuel was born first, at 1:39 am, followed by his brother Ronan who entered this world 31 minutes later just as daylight saving time had ended. So even though Ronan was born 31 minutes after Samuel, he officially was born at 1:10 am — 29 minutes before his older brother.
Although children of identical twins are legally first cousins, genetically, they are actually half siblings.
Twinning is common in many other species other than humans, such as cats, cattle, sheep, and ferrets.
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| Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the Dionne babies in 1934 |
Elvis Presley was actually one half of a set of twins. His twin brother, later named Jesse Garon Presley, died during birth, which was not terribly uncommon for a family in 1935 Mississippi.
Two identical twin males, who had been separated by adoption at three weeks, in 1940 suddenly rediscovered each other in Ohio at age 39 on February 9, 1979. Both their adoptive parents coincidentally named them both James. Both men came to be named Jim for short, and that was just the start of it. Both loved carpentry and math, and pursued careers in security. Even stranger, they had each married a woman named Linda got divorced and then remarried a woman named Betty.
Margaret Thatcher had two children, the twins Carol and Mark, who were born six weeks premature in 1953. "Typical of Margaret. She produced twins and avoided the necessity of a second pregnancy," said her husband Denis Thatcher.
 |
| Margaret Thatcher with Carol and Mark |
Twin brothers Ross and Norris McWhirter were co-founders of The Guinness Book of Records, which they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975.
Between 2006 and 2007 Poland’s prime minister and president were identical twin brothers, Jarosław and Jech Kaczyński. They were the first brothers in history to hold a country’s prime ministership and presidency at the same time.
Krista and Tatiana Hogan (born October 25, 2006) are Canadians conjoined twins, who are joined at the head. Their brains are connected by a thalamic bridge which gives them unique neurological capabilities.The twins can feel and taste what the other is experiencing, hear each other’s thoughts without having to speak and see through one another’s eyes.
RECORDS
The oldest conjoined twins ever (female) Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova were born January 3, 1950 in the Soviet Union and lived 53 years and 104 days. Masha and Dasha were a rare form of conjoined twins - two heads, four arms and two legs.
Twins Amy and Katie Jones-Elliott of Glenmore, Co Kilkenny, Ireland were born 87 days apart setting a new world record. Maria Jones-Elliott went into labor four months early, giving birth to Amy on June 1, 2012, but Katie did not arrive until three months later on August 27, 2012. The previous record is 84 days.
Twins Ann Hunt and Elizabeth Hamel were separated soon after they were born in Aldershot, England, to their unmarried domestic servant mother on February 28, 1936. They didn't see each other again for a record 78 years. Elizabeth was kept because she had curvature of the spine and her mother thought that it would be difficult for her to be adopted. Ann, who was adopted, grew up an only child.
As an adult, Elizabeth met an American and moved to Oregon in the United States. When they met in 2014, they discovered they had both married men called Jim.
Igbo Ora, a town in Nigeria, boasts the highest number of twin births in the world. The town, which in the south west part of Nigeria, has a documented 50 sets of twins born out of every 1,000 live births. Locals say it is due to an okra leaf they eat. One woman says it’s responsible for her having eight pairs of twins.
The village Kodinhi in India has the highest twin rate in the world, with over 400 twins in about 2000 families. Scientists aren't sure of why this is, but it has been observed that even when women of Kodinhi have children with men outside of their village, the twin birth rate is still high.
FUN TWIN FACTS
The odds against someone having twins is about 90:1.
The number of triplets born in the US in 1994 (4,594) was more than triple the number born in 1971 (1,034), an increase attributed to older age of the mothers and the use of fertility-enhancing drugs and techniques.
 |
| Wikipedia |
Left-handedness is extremely common in twins. It is unusual, however, for both to be left-handed.
You can tell identical twin babies apart from their navels, since navel is a scar and thus they're different.
Twins interact with each other in the womb as early as 14 weeks into the pregnancy.
After just under a year in space, astronaut Scott Kelly's gene expression changed significantly and is different than his identical twin brother's DNA.
The actor Tom Berenger once owned a restaurant called Twins, where the waitstaff consisted of 29 sets of identical twins.
Two brothers from a set of triplets fooled a Russian prison in 1992 when one brother named Roman swapped places with the other called Rusian to give him a brief taste of freedom. Rather than returning, Rusian ran off with his brother's girlfriend, leaving Roman to serve the rest of his twin's sentence. It took years for the authorities to realize they had been duped.
There have been several cases whereby identical twins are acquitted of crimes even though one of them is a definitely guilty as identical twins have almost identical DNA and legal system cannot afford to punish the wrong twin for the crime.
In 2009 identical twins Hassan and Abbas O. were suspects in a $6.8 million jewelry heist. DNA matching the twins was found but they had to be released citing "we can deduce that at least one of the brothers took part in the crime, but it has not been possible to determine which one."
Emily and Seth Peterson, who live in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, welcomed their new baby boys in the early hours of November 6, 2016. Samuel was born first, at 1:39 am, followed by his brother Ronan who entered this world 31 minutes later just as daylight saving time had ended. So even though Ronan was born 31 minutes after Samuel, he officially was born at 1:10 am — 29 minutes before his older brother.
Although children of identical twins are legally first cousins, genetically, they are actually half siblings.
Twinning is common in many other species other than humans, such as cats, cattle, sheep, and ferrets.
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