Interesting Facts about Twins !!!

These days, it seems every time you turn around there's another double stroller rolling down the street. Think about it - how many sets of twins do you know?

Multiple births are on the rise, and two babies means double the fun but also twice the worry !

Here are some interesting facts about twins :

1. In 1980, one in every 53 babies born in the United States was a twin. By 2009, that number had risen to one in 30, which means that over three decades, the twin birth rate (number of twins per 1,000 births) rose 76%.

2. Scientists found out that taller woman are more likely to give birth to twins. Scientists suspect that it may be due to insulin-like growth factor, a protein that has been linked to both a higher percentage of birthing twins as well as increased height, as it stimulates the growth of some bone cells.

3. Identical twins may have the exact same genes, but their personalities are often startlingly different—even when they were brought up in the same way. 
4. When a fertilized egg splits later in the embryonic stage than normal, mirror-image twins are the result. Some of their physical characteristics are typically reversed—hence the name ‘mirror-image.’ For example, one twin may be right-handed, while the other twin is left-handed

5.  Identical twins are the result of a random split of a single egg and cannot be genetically predisposed.

6. Identical twins share the same DNA but do not have the same fingerprints.

7. For polar bears, twins aren't unusual at all. In fact, they most commonly give birth to twins, and rarely deliver single cubs or triplets.

8. Although it’s difficult for humans to differentiate between identical twins, this isn’t the case for specially trained German Shepherds, who can pick up on scent variations between both identical and non-identical twins. This is true even if the siblings ate the same food and lived in the same house.

9.  They tend to be early - over 50% of twins are born before 37 weeks.

10. Twins bond in the womb. By examining 3D ultrasound images, a study in Padova, Italy found that fetuses start deliberately interacting at 14 weeks.