“Twin is God way of saying buy one get one free”
Unanimous!
What is it about twins that’s so darn fascinating? We idolize them when they’re famous (Mary and Joseph Lazarus, Taiwo and Kehinde Bankole, Mary Kate and Ashley), we envy them when we’re young (I know I’m not the only one who dreamed of having an identical partner-in-success as a kid!) — some women even stick to conception-friendly diets said to increase their chances of having adorable little duos.
With so many twins among us these days, it’s high time we celebrate some of the most wacky facts about them. 😉🙂. Keep on reading for 18 mirrored facts all about twins.
Twins are common in the Yoruba ethnic group that dominates this part of Nigeria. A 1970s study by a British gynaecologist found that around 50 sets of twins were born out of every 1,000 births in the southwest – one of the highest rates of twin births in the world.
- Twins Are so Common In Yoruba Culture: Twins are so common that they are traditionally given specific names. They are called either Taiwo or Kehinde depending on whether they were born first or second. But even for Yoruba people, Igbo Ora is considered to be exceptional.
- Massachusetts Has The Most Twin Births of Any State in America: At nearly 4.5 for every 100 live births, Massachusetts has the highest rate of twin births. Connecticut and New Jersey follow with 4.2 twins per every 100 births.
- Dog Always Know: In addition to being great pets, dogs come in really handy when it comes to telling twins apart. Dogs have such a heightened sense of smell that they can tell the twins apart by their own unique smells. This also means that if either of the twins get a dog of their own when they’re older, there won’t be any confusion on the part of the dog as to which one is their owner.
- Quaternary Marriage:When identical twins marry identical twins, it’s called a quaternary marriage. If both sets of twins have children of their own, thanks to biology, while legally being considered cousins, genetically, since they come from the same pool of chromosomes, they are technically siblings. If that doesn’t seem crazy enough, based on DNA alone, figuring out who the biological parents are of the two couples would be virtually impossible.
- They Read Each Other Mind: A popular myth surrounding twins is that they have some kind of ESP or special telepathic ability that allows them to read each other’s minds. While no genuine scientific evidence exists to prove the claim, numerous personal accounts by twins describe a unique mental connection.
- Mirror Twins Have Reverse Asymmetric Features: Mirror image twins account for about one-fourth of all identical twins. In these rare cases, identical twins develop directly facing each other, meaning they become exact reflections of one another. If one twin is right handed the other twin is left handed, they may have birthmarks on opposite sides of their body and can even have hair that whorls in reverse directions. Mirror image twins are thought to occur when the twins split from one fertilised egg later than usual.
- Twins Could Have Different Dads:Voila! Two babies, two dads. This is due to a medical phenomenon known as superfoetation. It occurs when a pregnant woman continues to ovulate and releases an egg a few weeks into her pregnancy. The second egg is fertilised, and the woman is then pregnant with two babies. Because sperm can remain alive in the reproductive tract for that long, each man’s sperm fertilized one of eggs. Usually, when a woman becomes pregnant, several biological processes happen to prevent her from getting pregnant a second time. Hormones are released that halt ovulation, a ‘mucus plug’ develops in the cervix to prevent sperm from traveling to the uterus, and the lining of the uterus changes, making it hard for another embryo to implant.
- The First Successful Separated Conjoined Twins in Nigeria: Nigerian conjoined twins(Mercy and Goodness Ede) was successfully separated by 78-member team in Abuja in November, 2019. According to the hospital, It took around 13 hours for the team working from two operating theaters at the hospital to separate the twins. Although the surgery took 13 hours, wasn’t without its complications, but miraculously, the twins survived, and were able to go home save and sound.. The girls are the first to be successfully separated at the government-run specialist center, National Hospital spokesman Dr. Tayo Haastrup told CNN.
- Identical Freckles: In the same way, identical twins also don’t have identical freckles. The pattern of freckles and moles on the skin is caused by random mutations and will vary between identical twins.
- Unique Individual: People often forget that despite sharing common DNA, twins, even identical ones, are still individuals. Just like any set of siblings, it’s natural that they have similar tastes and interests, but that doesn’t mean that they act alike or even look exactly alike. In fact, as the twins get older, they might go out of their way to be different than their sibling. Dressing alike must get old really fast!
- Twins Have a Secret Language: Phenomenon known as cryptophasia (from the Greek for ‘secret’ and ‘speech’) describes a language developed by twins in early childhood which only they understand. Cryptophasia is thought to occur in up to 50% of identical or non-identical twins. The secret language is formed when two very close babies are learning how to speak a real language alongside one another and naturally often play and communicate with each other. As such, it is more common among twins because they are more likely to be around each other and developing at the same rate; although the phenomenon can also sporadically occur between two babies who are not twins. This language consists of inverted words and onomatopoeic expressions, and often disappears soon after childhood once the children have learned a real language.
- Passing the Genes: One common myth about twins is that they skip a generation, but this isn’t entirely true. If a woman gives birth to twins of either sex, the twin gene will be passed along to her children. Since boys don’t release eggs, they aren’t affected, but should they have daughters, the gene would be passed on again, and she would be more likely have twins. If the twins are girls however, the likelihood of the daughter giving birth to twins is pretty high.
- One For The South Paw: Although left-handedness only occurs in about 10% of the population, about 17% of twins are born left-handed. Exactly why this happens is not really known, but researchers speculate that it’s related to environmental factors, hormonal levels during pregnancy, or the position of each baby in the womb.
- Twins Interact With Each Other In The Womb: No wonder twins share such an unbreakable bond — they get a head start on the rest of us. Moms who are expecting two tend to have higher levels of morning sickness, likely because of increased levels of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG).
- Dairy Product: If for some reason you are anxious to have twins, according to a study in Journal of Reproductive Medicine, certain foods can improve the chances of having twins. The study compared the diets of women who ate lots of dairy products with women who followed a vegan diet, and found that the dairy eaters were five times as likely to have twins.
- Using an Ultrasound Isn’t The Only Way Doctors Can Detect a Twin Pregnancy: some figure it out when they hear two tiny heartbeats through their stethoscope. At 14 weeks of gestation, twins were seen reaching for each other. By 18 weeks, they touched each other more often than they touched their own bodies. The researchers said that kinematic analyses of the recordings revealed that the twins made distinct gestures toward each other and were as gentle to the other twin’s delicate eye area as they were when they touched their own.
- It Runs in the Family: If you’ve ever heard stories about families with multiple sets of twins there’s a scientific reason for that; the twin gene causes women to release multiple eggs during ovulation, which increases the chances of her having fraternal twins. Since genes are passed on to family members, it’s both possible and even likely that a twin will give birth to twins.
- Sleep Number Mother: We already knew that mothers have super powers, but one of their particularly awesome powers is the ability of her body to automatically adjust to the temperature needs of each twin when she’s breastfeeding and carrying them. It’s like having your own private thermostat!
This article is dedicated to my favourite Kenbrolee and Cruzlee as they celebrate there birthday today. They remain my favourite Twin until I have my own set of twin.
It’s a Twin Thing
10 Tiny Fingers
10 Tiny Toes
2 babies to snuggles
2 babies sleeping side by sides
2 babies gifglung
2 heart melting smiles
2 heart melting kisses
2 best friends to share their lifes together
Unanimous
Female Guide 