It would seem, well, what’s the difference: they were born at the same time, which means they are twins. But no. It is possible that they are just twins. Let’s try to figure out what the differences are.
Remember this old issue of “Yeralash”, when the brothers almost drove a passerby crazy, trying to explain to him that they were not twins? “Well, you’re brothers? Brothers. Birthday one day? Into one. So twins. ” There it turned out that there was also a third – triplets. But there is, it turns out, a fundamental difference between twins and twins.
So what’s the main difference? In medical terminology, the concepts of identical and fraternal twins are used. Twins are two or more children who grew up together in the womb and were born almost simultaneously. It is customary to call fraternal twins twins, and identical twins are simply twins.
Here’s what makes them different:
- Twins can be of the same sex or different genders. But twins are always only same sex.
- The twins are always identical. It is very difficult to distinguish them externally, especially for strangers. They have the same blood type, the same diseases and complete portrait resemblance. And twins look like siblings, as if they were born to the same mother, but at different times.
- Twins are born about 1 time in 4 thousand births. Twins are more common, once every 1000 births.
- Twins only need one egg to conceive, and twins need 2 different eggs.
When conceived in a test tube, the chance of having twins is increased. Also, the likelihood of having twins increases in women who take hormonal contraceptives for a long time before conception.
Twins come from a single egg, which only needs one sperm to fertilize. Then, for reasons unknown to science, it is divided into two parts. As a result, genetic copies are formed. Each of the cells will develop into an independent embryo.
Obstetrician-gynecologist of the 2nd qualification category N.I. Pirogova, ultrasound doctor
-Visible distinguishing feature of already born babies is their “similarity” to each other. Twins are always alike, twins are not. From a medical point of view, things are a little more complicated. In medicine, there is no concept – twins and twins, there are concepts of monochorionic and dichorionic twins. And the difference is in how fertilization takes place.
Dichorial twins are expressed in the fact that each embryo forms its own placenta and amniotic sac, therefore, each of the babies has its own place in the womb and feeds from its placenta. From a medical point of view, this is more favorable for the birth of healthy babies.
With monochorionic twins, both embryos develop in one embryo sac and always have a common placenta, which, in some cases, complicates the development of pregnancy and a number of complications arise.
Babies from monochorionic twins are often genetically identical, of the same sex and very similar to each other, they are called twins. As for dichory twins, here babies can be both same-sex and heterosexual, and do not look alike in any way.
Twins are more likely to be born to women between the ages of 30 and 40
Twins, on the other hand, develop from two eggs fertilized by sperm. They may even have different fathers. This is due to the fact that in rare cases, when ovulating, two eggs are released from a woman’s ovary, although usually only one is released. For this reason, fraternal twins or twins are born in the family.
So, twins are natural clones with identical appearance, character, and even hereditary diseases. They cannot be of different genders. And twins are brothers or sisters or brother and sister who have similarities and differences, as if they were not born at the same time, but as a result of different pregnancies from the same mother.
Scientists at the University of Washington have conducted a number of studies concerning the life expectancy of identical twins. It turned out that male twins live six percent longer than their peers, and women outrun them by as much as ten percent.
Curiously, other studies have touched on the mothers of twins themselves. For example, biologists from the University of Utah found that women who gave birth to twins had a life expectancy of almost eight percent higher than those of others who gave birth to one or more children intermittently.
Natalia Evgenieva, Rumiya Safiulina, healthy-food-near-me.com editorial office