Friday 25 July 2008

telegraph - Black and white twins a million to one chance

Parents Tracey-Ann and Andrew knew when they were having non-identical twins, they wanted to treat them as individuals.
But when Orlando came out black with lots of dark hair, and Natalia arrived a minute later with blonde hair and blue eyes, they knew they would not have to worry.
Delighted mother Tracey-Ann said: "Right from the start we said we wouldn't treat them as twins. We knew they weren't identical but we want to make sure we call them by their names rather than 'the twins' to keep their individuality.
"Now because they look so different to each other, it will be easier for them to be individuals."
Non-identical twins happen when two eggs are fertilised by two separate sperm.
Although they will share genes from the same parents, the way those genes are expressed will vary.
Orlando and Natalia are now three months old, and Tracey-Ann, 34, says the difference between the two has become even more evident as time has passed.
She said: "I think I was so caught up with the mechanics of having them, that I didn't really think about the difference at first.
"Now Orlando is even darker and Natalia looks nothing like me.
"Thank goodness for Orlando's skin colouring though otherwise I would have gone through all the effort of having them only for them both to look completely unlike me!"
Tracey-Ann is convinced the twins' different colour is due to past generations of mixed race in her family, while 28-year-old Andrew is also half-Italian, and is keen to make sure they grow up to appreciate their multi-racial heritage.
An IT consultant from Bristol, Andrew said: "They're not just one of each, black and white. They're half-Jamaican, one quarter-English and one-quarter Italian."
The chances of it happening are a million to one, although there have been a few cases in the last few years.
A German mixed race couple have just had their own black and white twins earlier this month.

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