• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Twins & Other Birth Multiples (Triplets, Etc.)

Twins born in different years

Twins from San Diego in America have been born just minutes apart but in different years.
Baby girl Jaelyn was born on New Year's Eve in the last minute of 2015 and her brother Luis was born in the first few minutes of New Year's Day.

Because they weren't born on the same day, it might make birthday parties in the future a bit tricky.
"Maribel really wanted to have the babies on the same birthday because you know later on in the years, they're going to have a little confrontation and be like, 'my birthday came first,' so it means two birthday parties, back to back," Dad Luis said.

The twins, along with their Mum Maribel, are said to be healthy and happy.
Their Dad, Luis, called it a New Year's blessing to have two healthy children.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/35217077
 
They have different coloured hair now but they might start to play pranks on the others.
Angela could pretend to be Maria, and provoke a war with some belligerent defence policy statement. Such larks!

Or Maria could pretend to be Angela, and do whatever shadow business secretaries do with their time. Sudoku?
 
Powys twins claim Wales-England birth world record
18 January 2016

Twins from Powys are set to claim a world record title as the first pair to be born in different countries - nearly 40 years after the event.
Heidi Gannon was born at Welshpool Hospital in 1976, while her sister Jo Baines was delivered across the border in Shrewsbury almost two hours later.

Guinness World Records listed twins born in Scotland and England in 2012 as the first until Ms Gannon got in touch.
After checking, Guinness said the Welsh duo are indeed the record breakers.
Ms Gannon only discovered their claim to the title after buying a book for her son.

She was born at 09:00 GMT on 23 September 1976 in the Powys hospital, but her mother Carol Munroe was unaware she was carrying twins.
Her sister, Ms Baines, was later born at 10:45 20 miles (32km) away across the Welsh border in Shropshire.
Officials confirmed they were waiting for the record to be updated and said they had been in contact with Ms Gannon.

A spokesperson added: "We were made aware of Ms Baines and Ms Gannon's claim for this record last week and after some research involving our twins consultant we have been able to verify that they are indeed the first twins born in different countries."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-35345649
 
If you read a fictional story about twin brothers who both became CoE Bishops, you might think it a bit far-fetched, but even more so when one of them is also a sex offender!
Convicted sex abuse Bishop may have led services in Cornwall
20 March 2016

Churches are being asked to check records for any evidence that a convicted paedophile bishop may have taken services in the 1990s.
Former Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball was jailed last year after he admitted sexually abusing teenagers and young men.

The Diocese of Truro is working to find out what evidence it has that Ball conducted services in the area.
Bishop Ball's brother, Michael, was a former Bishop of Truro in the 1990s.
An independent review is under way into the way the Church of England responded to the case.

Ball, who has been jailed for 32 months for abusing young men in the 1970s and 1980s, was investigated by police in 1993 and given a caution.
Ball promised to resign as Bishop of Gloucester and "immediately leave the country", but instead continued to officiate as a priest in the Church of England until 2010.

The Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Tim Thornton said there was no evidence that the Diocese of Truro gave Peter Ball permission to lead services in Cornwall in the 1990s.
The Bishop said: "We have one or two bits of evidence now where it does appear as if Bishop Peter went and did things which Bishop Michael should have been doing.

"It might be that Bishop Peter thought it was clear that he was being Bishop Peter, and on some occasions might have made it very clear at the beginning that he was there in place of his brother, but it might not have been evident to everybody."
He added that it would have been "a limited number of services in a limited number of churches".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-35851286
 
If you read a fictional story about twin brothers who both became CoE Bishops, you might think it a bit far-fetched, but even more so when one of them is also a sex offender!
Convicted sex abuse Bishop may have led services in Cornwall
20 March 2016

Churches are being asked to check records for any evidence that a convicted paedophile bishop may have taken services in the 1990s.
Former Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball was jailed last year after he admitted sexually abusing teenagers and young men.

The Diocese of Truro is working to find out what evidence it has that Ball conducted services in the area.
Bishop Ball's brother, Michael, was a former Bishop of Truro in the 1990s.
An independent review is under way into the way the Church of England responded to the case.

Ball, who has been jailed for 32 months for abusing young men in the 1970s and 1980s, was investigated by police in 1993 and given a caution.
Ball promised to resign as Bishop of Gloucester and "immediately leave the country", but instead continued to officiate as a priest in the Church of England until 2010.

The Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Tim Thornton said there was no evidence that the Diocese of Truro gave Peter Ball permission to lead services in Cornwall in the 1990s.
The Bishop said: "We have one or two bits of evidence now where it does appear as if Bishop Peter went and did things which Bishop Michael should have been doing.

"It might be that Bishop Peter thought it was clear that he was being Bishop Peter, and on some occasions might have made it very clear at the beginning that he was there in place of his brother, but it might not have been evident to everybody."
He added that it would have been "a limited number of services in a limited number of churches".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-35851286

Truly bizarre, you couldn't make it up!
 
A sharpie would probably have worked just as well :D

I thought that too, well, a tattoo maybe, but I've read that Chinese people don't approve of them.
 
Different hairstyles/dyed hair? Is that too much to do?
 
Banshang, a village of 50 families in Hubei in central China, has produced 16 sets of twins in the past 50 years, prompting speculation the water from the local well has magical powers and giving new meaning to the expression “twin town”.

This is 12 times the global average, the Chutian Metropolis Daily newspaper in Wuhan reported.

Of the 16 sets of twins, nine are sisters, four are brothers and the rest are mixed. The oldest twins are aged 51 and the youngest are just five.

Locals believe the reason there are so many twins is that the water from the well works as a fertility elixir, similar to examples from ancient myths.

Under the one-child policy of population control, which has since been relaxed to allow two children, there was widespread use of fertility treatment to encourage multiple births, because the policy applied to one birth, rather than one child, and twins or triplets or more were not penalised. ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...-twin-town-makes-headlines-in-china-1.2623942
 
Horizon: My Amazing Twin
Today 9pm - 10pm BBC Two

Review
by David Butcher
You may have seen Adam Pearson on other programmes about disfigurement. Tumours have dramatically changed his face, but you very quickly get past that because he is such an engaging presenter, an instinctive communicator who says of his own genetic mutation, “I am to all intents and purposes a really s*** superhero.”

Here, he introduces us to his twin, Neil. In a medical anomaly, they are genetically identical, share a genetic condition, but are affected very differently: Neil has no disfigurement, but does have epilepsy and short-term memory loss. Why? A very personal quest takes them to Belgium, America and Vietnam to find the science behind their differences.

Summary
Severely facially disfigured broadcaster Adam Pearson presents a personal film about genetics, asking why the same genetic disease, neurofibromatosis 1, can affect he and his twin brother Neil so differently. For Adam, the disease has left tumours on his face that are growing out of control and he could lose his sight. For years, everyone thought his brother had escaped symptoms, but today his life is governed by epilepsy and a mysterious memory loss, that suddenly came on during his teens.

http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/fbkcsb/horizon--horizon-my-amazing-twin
 
80-Year-Old Identical Twin Sisters Achieve Their Goal of Hiking the Appalachian Trail

BBxJKKG.img
© Provided by CBS Interactive Inc. Elrose Couric and Sue Hollinger have completed a 2,190 mile long hike along the Appalachian Trail.

Don't let their age fool you — these two daring twin sisters are taking on new adventures, one step at a time.

Elrose Couric and Sue Hollinger, two 80-year-old identical twins, have completed a 2,190-mile-long hike along the Appalachian Trail.

Their motivation for the hike began in 1992 but they’ve been active even before they could talk.

"We’re outdoor people,” Couric told InsideEdition.com. “Our mother told us we’ve been running around since we were 9 months old.”

The twins began documenting their hike in 1998 along with a few friends called the "Hayward Hikers."

After several years and families later, almost all of their fellow hikers dropped from the group and the two sisters decided to plan the hike on their own.

“Even if we didn’t finish, we wanted to start the goal,” said Hollinger.

Couric and Hollinger’s 18-year quest was finally completed on July 7.

Hollinger said her own reason to keep going was to spend as much time as she could with her sister.

The tenacious twins are both widows and are now living in Florida together after being apart for nearly 30 years. ...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-...al-of-hiking-the-appalachian-trail/ar-BBxJXo1
 
This is the second time the school has had six sets of twins starting First Year.

Teachers see double as six sets of twins start school in Cork
The principal of Coláiste Choilm says: ‘We’ll eventually get to know who’s who’

about 19 hours ago Carl O'Brien
image.jpg

Six sets of twins are starting first year at Coláiste Choilm and Gaelcholáiste Choilm in Ballincollig, Co Cork - Andrew and Alex Okpoy; Amber and Alanagh Healy; Adam and Ethan Butler; David and Jonathan Keane; Kamile and Mileta Riskute; and Conor and Aoife Morey. Photograph: Cathal Noonan


Teachers at Coláiste Choilm on the outskirts of Cork city face an unusual dilemma when first-years start school this week: how to tell no fewer than six sets of twins apart.

“We’ll eventually get to know who’s who, though it might take a little while,” said principal Michelle Sliney.

While six sets of twins all starting in the same school in the same year is unusual, it is not unprecedented.

In 2007, the first-year classes at Coláiste Choilm and Gaelcholáiste Choilm also included six sets of twins. Ms Sliney said teaching staff have already adjusted their double vision.

“They had various strategies to tell the students apart, so I guess they’ll be using them again,” she said. ...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/edu...-sets-of-twins-start-school-in-cork-1.3196190
 
It would seem the often astounding non-biological similarities between identical twins don't extend to the political domain ...

Michigan twins from different parties advance in election
Twin sisters from different political parties are a step closer to public office in western Michigan.

Monica Sparks, a Democrat, and her Republican sister, Jessica Ann Tyson, won their party’s nomination Tuesday during the Michigan primary election. They’ll now advance to the November election for seats on the Kent County Board of Commissioners.

It’s possible that Sparks and Tyson could serve together because they’re running in different districts in the Grand Rapids area.

Sparks says she decided to run for office when her sister declared her candidacy. They say they were adopted into a family that taught them to pay attention to government and public affairs.

SOURCE: https://apnews.com/d786d41a2a824e95...ns-from-different-parties-advance-in-election
 
Female fraternals fail financially.

Female twins who shared a womb with a brother tend to get less education, earn less money, and have fewer children than girls who shared a womb with another girl, according to an analysis of hundreds of thousands of births over more than a decade.

Researchers suspect the cause is testosterone exposure during fetal development, though the exact mechanism remains a mystery.

“I think it’s a really interesting look at how this really complicated system might impact females,” says Talia Melber, a biological anthropologist at the University of Illinois in Urbana who wasn’t involved in the study. Still, she cautions, a lot more work needs to be done to establish a causal link.

Fraternal twins, in which each of two eggs is fertilized by a different sperm cell, occur in about four of every 1000 births. About half of those result in male-female twin pairs. Typically, about 8 to 9 weeks into gestation, a male fetus begins to produce massive amounts of testosterone, which helps jump-start the development of male reproductive organs and brain architecture; female fetuses receive only modest amounts of the sex hormone. In male-female twins, though, small amounts of the male fetus’s testosterone can seep into the female twin’s separate amniotic sac. Scientists have known about this phenomenon for decades, and have been arguing for just as long over what effects, if any, it has on women later in life.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...-boys-tend-make-less-money-those-twin-sisters
 
Female fraternals fail financially.

Female twins who shared a womb with a brother tend to get less education, earn less money, and have fewer children than girls who shared a womb with another girl, according to an analysis of hundreds of thousands of births over more than a decade.

Researchers suspect the cause is testosterone exposure during fetal development, though the exact mechanism remains a mystery.

“I think it’s a really interesting look at how this really complicated system might impact females,” says Talia Melber, a biological anthropologist at the University of Illinois in Urbana who wasn’t involved in the study. Still, she cautions, a lot more work needs to be done to establish a causal link.

Fraternal twins, in which each of two eggs is fertilized by a different sperm cell, occur in about four of every 1000 births. About half of those result in male-female twin pairs. Typically, about 8 to 9 weeks into gestation, a male fetus begins to produce massive amounts of testosterone, which helps jump-start the development of male reproductive organs and brain architecture; female fetuses receive only modest amounts of the sex hormone. In male-female twins, though, small amounts of the male fetus’s testosterone can seep into the female twin’s separate amniotic sac. Scientists have known about this phenomenon for decades, and have been arguing for just as long over what effects, if any, it has on women later in life.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...-boys-tend-make-less-money-those-twin-sisters
Female twins who shared a womb with a brother tend to get less education, earn less money, and have fewer children than girls who shared a womb with another girl, according to an analysis of hundreds of thousands of births over more than a decade.

My friend, who is the female half of a boy-girl set of twins, was OUTRAGED when she saw this headline! It's worth remembering just so that I can wind her up every now and again...
 
This "tired" mother added four children to the household - in two batches of twins ... Within a single calendar year ...
Florida mom hits jackpot: 2 sets of twin boys born in 2019

Doctors told a Florida woman she had a better chance of winning the lottery than of giving birth to two sets of twins in the same year.

But Alexzandria Wolliston said she won the jackpot with the births of Mark and Malakhi in March and Kaylen and Kaleb in December.

“Oh, yes, I feel like I hit the twin lottery,” Wolliston told WPTV.

The tired mom says her 3-year-old daughter helped her prepare for the double dose of twins.

“She was actually worse than them. so she was like having two babies in one,” Wolliston said.

Two months after the first set of twins arrived, Wolliston said she learned about the second set. They were born in West Palm Beach on Dec. 27. Wolliston said Kaleb was dismissed from the hospital on Monday and she’s hoping to bring Kaylen home soon.

She said she recently learned that both of her grandmothers lost twin boys at birth, which makes her believe her four babies are a blessing from above.

“I always say that I feel like my grandmothers gave me their kids because two sets of twins and their twins passed away,” she said. “I feel like they just sent them down for me.”
SOURCE: https://apnews.com/1bb1e333ae7b8669f8274cf9249d7be6
 
This is both weird and sad. Twin brothers, aged 32, killed themselves together.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding twins discovered 'after note found'

Twin brothers Billy and Joe Smith, from the Channel 4 reality TV show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, were found dead in a Kent country lane after a relative found a suicide note, an inquest heard.

The pair, who were both tree surgeons, were found next to each other in Dibden Lane near Sevenoaks on 28 December.

They had celebrated their 32nd birthdays about two weeks earlier.
 
In case you've ever wondered whether twins are more common than you suppose, be aware they apparently are in Sri Lanka ...
Twin gathering world record attempt endangered by high turnout

An attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of twins descended into chaos when an unexpectedly high number of sibling sets showed up, organizers said.

The Sri Lanka Twins event at a sports stadium in Colombo had aimed to gather 5,000 pairs of twins to take the record from Taiwan, where 3,961 sets of twins, 27 sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets gathered in 1999.

Organizers said they were shocked when an estimated 14,000 sets showed up for the Sri Lanka event, leading to long lines and long waits for birth certificates to be checked and photos to be taken in accordance with Guinness requirements.

They said some of the gathered twins became frustrated with the wait times and left before posing for the mandatory group photo at the end of the event. ...
SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...ndangered-by-high-turnout/8951579627002/?sl=8
 
May I peripherally-but-contextfully resubmit here to the forum this interesting link https://twinstrangers.net/

The concept is a contemporary internet-enabled ostension of the oft-repeated trope that "somewhere in the world there are 'X' people alive today that are physically-identical to you" (the broad doppleganger thesis, perhaps one of the more commonly-arising Fortean themes).

(My previous pitch of this facilitative endevour didn't meet with the anticipated levels of acclamation and fevered controversy, so I considered it my sworn duty as a citizen of this burgh to offer it back up for revivisection. <We are no longer 'new' in the current semester (Xmas was a break, not a destination) so if this happens again we may need to consider the reintroduction of tutor groups/> )

But if it lights not thy fuse of fascination, be of good cheer and simply smile sadly at my solipsism
 
Last edited:
Back
Top