Did you know Twin Facts Trivia
1. 18% to 22% of twins are left-handed compared with under 10% for non-twins.
2. The incidence of fraternal twins varies by race:
* Of African descent: 1 birth per 70
* Of Caucasian descent: 1 birth per 88
* Of Japanese descent: 1 birth per 150
* Of Chinese descent: 1 birth per 300
3. Genetic factors do not appear to have much affect upon the incidence of identical twins.
4. Identical twins exhibit almost identical brain wave patterns.
5. William Shakespeare was the father of boy/girl twins Hamnet and Judith. He also wrote about twins in The Comedy of Errors and The Twelfth Night.
6. The term “twins” derives from the ancient German word twin or twine meaning “two together.”
7. Twinning does run in families, but supposedly only fraternal twins and not identical twins. Yet there are many, many families with identical twins in each generation, and sometimes even several sets of identical twin children, so this ostensible scientific “fact” doesn’t seem to be supported by the evidence. There is little evidence to support the popular notion that twins “skip” a generation.
8. If the mother is herself a fraternal twin, the chances of having twins
increases about five-fold.
9. The modern world record for giving birth to multiples is held by Leontina Albina from Chile, whose 55 children included three sets of triplets. The all-time historical record is claimed by a Russian who is purported to have given birth to 6 pairs of twins, 6 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quads. (If true, it means her 46 children included no singletons at all!)
10. The scientific study of twins is known as “gemellology.”
11. Twins have been known to develop their own “language” that only they understand. This process is known as “cryptophasia.”