What Are Twins?

What are they? Twins are siblings who are the result of a single pregnancy. From
listening to this speech, i hope for you to gain knowledge of each type of twin there is.
Choosing this topic was very easy for me, because i started off with knowledge of twins,
due to being one and growing up with them running in the family. The three most
common types of twins are identical, fraternal and conjoined.
Identical twins also known as monozygotic, occur when one egg that splits and
forms two embryos. Identical twinning occurs in birthing at a rate of about three in every
1000 deliveries worldwide. They are always the same gender unless there has been a
mutation during development. Identical twins have similar foot and hand prints, but
different fingerprints and teeth marks.They share 100% of their genes. Even though
they look alike their personalities can be polar opposites.
The majority of twins are fraternal or Dizygotic twins(also referred to as "nonidentical twins", "dissimilar twins") , they occur when two separate eggs are implanted at
the same time. Fraternal twins may look similar, given that they are the same age.
However, they may also look very different from each other. They may be of different
gender or the same gender. The same holds true for brothers and sisters from the same
parents, meaning that fraternal twins are simply siblings who happen to be the same
age. Fraternal twins share up to 50% of their genes, and are no more alike or different
than any two siblings would be. The similarity between fraternal twins can be close to
identical - there are many fraternal twins that look identical - even more than some
identical twins!

Lastly, we have conjoined twins, Conjoined twins are physically connected to one
another at some point on their bodies. Scientists believe that conjoined twins develop
from a single fertilized egg that fails to separate completely as it divides. The overall
survival rate of conjoined twins is between 5% and 25%, with about 75% of surgical
separations resulting in at least one twin surviving. Conjoined twins occur once every
200,000 live births. About 70% of conjoined twins are female, the ratio is 3:1. Conjoined
twins are identical - they are always the same gender. The most common attachment
point is at the chest or shoulder, causing the twins to share a heart and some major
organs. The least common place is attached at the head. Approximately 200 pairs of
conjoined twins are born alive each year, and about half die before their first birthday.
What most people dont know about twins is Over 50% of twins are born before
the 37 weeks mark. The birth rate for twins has increased a whopping 76 percent since
1980. In fact, one in every 30 babies born in 2009 was a twin. If a woman inherits a
certain gene that causes her to hyperovulate (meaning shes more likely to release
multiple eggs during ovulation), her chance of having fraternal twins which are
produced from two separate eggs increases. And since that gene is, well, genetic,
parents may also pass it on to their kids, making it possible for twins to run in the family
(and perhaps even for twins to have their own little sets of twins). At a young age it is
said to be true that twins have their own language to communicate with one another, so
to finish up i will be showing two young twins having a conversation.