Seven Things You Never Knew About Twins

It’s Multiple Birth Awareness Week this week so to help celebrate that we thought we’d share seven things you never knew about twins. Twin births are a pretty fascinating phenomena, so here are seven fascinating facts about twins.

1. There’s a twin gene!

This gene is mostly what’s behind fraternal twins (non-identical twins). The gene is responsible for hyper-ovulation – when the mother releases more than one egg at ovulation. As for identical twins, there is no genetic reason, it’s just a happy freak of nature when one egg splits in half to create two babies.

2. Twins can have two separate biological fathers.

It’s rare, but not impossible. Known as heteropaternal superfecundation, it works like this: a woman releases two eggs, has sex with two men while she’s ovulating, one egg is fertilised by one partner and the other egg fertilised by the other partner. Research in America puts the rate of heteropaternal superfecundation at around one percent of all twin births.

3. Twins can have their own language.

It’s known as idioglossia and it’s a unique language invented by sets of twins, which they happily converse in. Around 40 percent of twins invent their own language, which in most cases disappears as their vocabulary grows.

4. Mothers to twins live longer.

A University in America studied the health records of over 60,000 women born between 1800 and 1970 and discovered that the mothers that gave birth to multiples lived longer than those women that gave birth to singletons.

5. Identical twins do not have identical DNA.

This is proven through their finger prints. They might look indistinguishable from each other, but they will have their own unique finger print.

6. Belly Buttons of Twins Are Not Identical

Another way to tell identical twins apart is to look at their belly button. They may be identical in every way (except their finger prints!)but their the belly button is unique because it comes from the knot tied by the doctor after the umbilical cord has been cut. No two belly buttons are ever the same.

7. Increase Dairy Intake to Conceive Twins

If you’re hoping to conceive twins you need to up your dairy intake. In fact, women that consume dairy are five times more likely to conceive twins than their vegan sisters. A synthetic growth hormone found in dairy, called IGF, is released from the livers of animals and it actually increases ovulation when ingested by humans, through the consumption of animal dairy products.

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