When a set of male Vietnamese twins came out looking almost nothing alike, the family suspected there might have been a mix-up in the hospital nursery. At the age of 2, the differences were harder and harder to ignore - one had thick curly hair, while the other’s was straight, silky and thin.
The family got the toddlers genetically tested and the truth was not only shocking but rather bizarre. The labs in Vietnam confirmed that the twins were from the same mom but had two dads!
Seriously! That happened.
The birth of twins is a genetic oddity in itself - it only happens in about one in 90 births. But imagine an unexpected, awkward twist like that. Baby-papa drama, I tell ya!
Twins Or Half-Brothers?
The family in question doesn’t want to be identified for obvious reasons but CNN spoke to Le Dinh Luong, the President of the Genetic Association of Vietnam, the centre where the twins’ testing took place, and he said the family was indeed surprised by the results and that this was only the second case of hetro-paternal twins that the expert had dealt with in her entire career.
Biologically Speaking How Does It Happen?
The two-into-one situation has a fancy medical-sounding term - Bi-paternal superfecundation.
Bouncer?
Well, it might sound all technical but it is medical-speak to say that a super-fertile (or fecund) woman got pregnant with two babies fathered by two distinct fathers.
Again - every month a woman’s ovary releases one egg that can be fertilised by one sperm. Sometimes, a pair of eggs are released.
Now a woman’s egg lives for 24 to 48 hours and a man’s sperms for 7 to 10 days. So if the woman has intercourse with two men one after the other and her two eggs get fertilised by 2 different sets of sperms then ta da! What you have is one pair of twins, one mom and two dads.
Amazingly, it is also possible for a woman to give birth to twins who have been conceived weeks or even months apart, if she continues to ovulate even after she has become pregnant, in a process called superfetation.
It is claimed that superfetation is common in some species of animals, but is extremely rare in humans.
Where Have You Heard Of It Before?
Greek mythology!
Yep, this two-into-one situation is not because of all the modern technology, there is a reference to it in Greek mythology too.
Remember the illustrious Hercules, the strongest of all mortals known for his strength and far-ranging adventures? He was the son of Zeus, the God of the Sky. Now Hercules had a twin brother, Iphicles, who was one night younger than him and his father was Amphitryon, the king of Troezen and not the great Zeus. Precisely why Iphicles was not a demi-God like Hercules (for that status you had to be the son of a God).
Should Everyone Run To Genetic Labs Incase Their Twins Look Different?
Get a life. Non-identical twins don’t have the same genetic makeup and are meant to look different. Bi-parental babies are rare, not only for Vietnam but for the whole world. But if you’re still troubled wondering why your twin is a misfit in the clan, keep the paternity lab on speed dial. Just in case.