Here is a fun scenario: imagine you have a twin, but you have different birthdays. Not only were you born on different days, but you were born in different decades as well. That’s exactly the case for two little boys who were born on December 31, 2009, just before midnight, and January 1, 2010, just after midnight! Identical twins, Marcello and Stephano Velasco were born in Tampa, Florida earlier this week. I wonder if only one of them will be counted as a tax deduction this spring…
Little Marcello and Stephano were technically born minutes apart, but some twin births can span hours, days or weeks! The average time between births is about 17 minutes. There was one case in the 50s where two healthy twins were born 56 days apart! Delayed interval twin births are most common when the first twin is born prematurely and the second is able to continue closer to term.
Some more facts about twins:
One third of all twins are identical, about half of those pairs being girls and half being boys. Identical male twins are the least common of all twin types.
Identical twins have nearly identical brainwave patterns. Perhaps this explains the “Twin ESP” phenomenon.
Scientists believe that 1 in 8 pregnancies begin as a twin pregnancy. Could you have been a twin?
Desiring doubles? Eat yams! Or move to the western part of the world. Your chances of conceiving multiples will increase either way.
Many twins can speak their own language. (My younger sister and I attempted this when we were young and failed. I suppose only twins can achieve this feat!)
Multiple births have increased in the US due to the use of fertility treatments.
When twins are conceived on separate occasions (very rare), it is called superfetation. In 2009 an Arkansas woman conceived twins two and a half weeks apart.
When twins form “late,” (more than a week after conception), they can develop mirror image features. Their birth marks appear on opposite sides of the body, they might be right- and left-handed, etc. About a quarter of identical twins are mirror image twins.