Do you know twins? Or were they born into your family? Do you know how to tell them apart? Here are the facts you need to remember about these amazing babies.
To distinguish twins, look at their navels
The navel is a scar from the umbilical cord being pulled off after birth, so it has nothing to do with genetics. Another way to determine who is who is to take fingerprints. Identical twins may share DNA, but during development they were in different areas of the uterus, and this affected the lines at their fingertips.
Gemini can have two different fathers
Heteropaternal superfecundation occurs when a woman has sex with more than one man during ovulation. Sperm from each man fertilizes an egg, resulting in twins. Although this phenomenon is common in dogs and cats, it is very rare in humans.
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The chance of having twins is much higher than it was 30 years ago
Twin births have increased 76% since 1980. Some experts attribute this surge to the fact that now women are more likely to give birth to those who have previously had children (women after 30 are more likely to have twins than at the age of 20).
Or maybe the reason is that women are getting taller? Researchers at the Long Island European Medical Center found that women who gave birth to twins were several centimeters taller than those who had only one child at a time.
Embryos that divide in the uterus do not necessarily end up as twins on their birthday
Superfetation is an extremely rare phenomenon, during which a pregnant woman continues to menstruate, and then a second embryo develops as a result of fertilization. Often this second fetus is born prematurely, while the first is born on time. But in some cases, babies are born on the same day.
Gemini speak their own language
What sounds like baby talk may actually be cryptophasia. It is a language developed between twins that only they can understand. A study published in the journal of the Institute for General Linguistics found that twin babies often use each other to build vocabulary. Researchers estimate that about 40% of twins create their own language.
Some twins are mirror images of each other
When a fertilized egg splits later than usual, identical twins appear, which are mirror images of each other. For example, one of the twins may have a mole on the right hand, while the other will have it on the left. Or, one twin may be left-handed while the other is right-handed. In special cases, such twins may have mirrored internal organs, for example, the heart on the right and the liver on the left.
Twins help mom live longer
Researchers at the University of Utah, USA, looked at birth and death records made between the 1800s and 1970s. They found that women who gave birth to twins tended to live longer.
Twins are bound in the womb
They begin to interact in utero as early as 14 weeks of gestation!