Fraternal twins could be the byproduct of an evolutionary 'insurance policy' for women as they age. A woman's ovaries usually release one egg in a single ovulatory cycle, but occasionally release two — potentially leading to the birth of fraternal twins.
Identical twins originate from one egg cell that splits in two at a very early stage of development, whereas non-identical twins are formed when two fertilised eggs implant in the womb at the same time.
Are twins hereditary? Yes, some types of twins are hereditary, meaning that twins run in families. Heredity on the mother's side ups a couple's odds of conceiving fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are two babies from two different eggs that were released from the ovaries simultaneously.
Factors that increase the chance of twins include: consuming high amounts of dairy foods, being over the age of 30, and conceiving while breastfeeding. Many fertility drugs including Clomid, Gonal-F, and Follistim also increase the odds of a twin pregnancy.
According to the Office on Women's Health , women who are aged 30 years or older are more likely to conceive twins. The reason for this is that women of this age are more likely than younger women to release more than one egg during their reproductive cycle.
In ancient mythology, twins often represented the duality of nature, male/female, good/evil, and so on. Apollo and Artemis, the twin children of Zeus (again) and Leto, were ascribed to the sun and moon respectively.
Found at Lokomotiv in southern Siberia and dated to 7810-7640 cal BP, the woman in grave R11 is the earliest known instance of a mother of twins. She died at the age of 20-25 and was buried in prone and extended position with 15 mammuth teeth; her burial did not stand out in terms of funerary treatment or grave goods.
The oldest known evidence of twins are the remains of two boys recovered during the excavation of an Upper Paleolithic site in Krems-Wachtberg, Austria, in 2005 and dated to c. 31,000 years ago.
The first wife (died ante 1770), of Feodor Vassilyev (b. 1707–c. 1782), a peasant from Shuya, Russia, gave birth to 16 sets of twins.
The most extreme form of conjoined twins is dicephales tetrabrachius dipus (two heads, four arms and two legs). The only fully reported example is Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova (Russia), who were born in the USSR on 3 January 1950 and died within 17 hours of each other on 17 April 2003.
Legend says that a long time ago in China there were immortal twins, one who brought harmony and the other, union. So artists made figurines showing the twin brothers, called ''He-He. '' They often were pictured and given to brides, because it was thought they brought a happy marriage.
The biological phenomenon of giving birth to twins with two different biological fathers is called heteropaternal superfecundation. In a rare and surprising event, a 19-year-old Brazilian woman gave birth to twins who belong to two different biological fathers.
Semi-identical twins are rare, and doctors say they've identified the second case ever | CNN. You've probably heard of identical and fraternal twins, but a report released this week says there's a third kind -- sesquizygous twins or "semi-identical." Researchers say they share anywhere from 50 to 100% of their genomes.
Can twins have different fathers? In rare cases, fraternal twins can be born from two different fathers in a phenomenon called heteropaternal superfecundation. Although uncommon, rare cases have been documented where a woman is pregnant by two different men at the same time.
Twins in mythology are often associated with healing. They are also often gifted with the ability of divination or insight into the future. Divine twins in twin mythology are identical to either one or both place of a god. The Feri gods are not separated entities but are unified into one center.
In West Africa, the mythologizing of twinhood has created contrasting superstitions; for some cultures, like the Igbo, twins are regarded as bad omens, a disruption of the natural order. The Yoruba, however, see twins as a blessing, even going so far as to view them as supernatural beings.
Igbo society viewed twins as a bad omen sent by the “Gods.” They considered twins as supernatural beings that could bring devastation upon society. In Chinua Achebe's acclaimed novel, Things Fall Apart, I learn that the Earth goddess had decreed that twins “were an offence on the land and must be destroyed.
What is it? 'Mirror image' is a type of identical twinning. It can happen in any type of identical twins. When the split occurs late - more than a week after conception - the twins can develop reverse asymmetric features. This term is not really a type of twin, just a way to describe their physical features.
A 19-year-old teenager from Brazil has claimed that she has given birth to twins with different biological fathers in an extremely rare case. This 'one-in-a-million' case has stunned doctors worldwide. The girl from Minerios in Goias gave birth to twins nine months after having sex with two men on the same day.
However, since only women ovulate, the connection is only valid on the mother's side of the family. While men can carry the gene and pass it on to their daughters, a family history of twins doesn't make them any more likely to have twins themselves.
"Dragon-and-phoenix infants" (龍鳳胎; 龙凤胎) is a Chinese term for a set of male and female fraternal twins. Fenghuang is a common place name throughout China.