Two children in Australia have been identified as “semi identical” twins, making them only the second pair to be reported in the world.
The boy and girl, now four, share only a small amount of their father’s DNA and are identical on their mother’s side.
According to SBS News, twins of their kind do not usually survive as embryos.
The discovery was made while they were in the womb, making the children the first to be identified during pregnancy.
Professor Nicholas Fisk, Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of New South Wales said: “The issue here was they were of different sex, so when we did DNA studies it showed they weren’t identical, but they weren’t non-identical either – they were really halfway in-between.”
According to scientists, non-identical twins occur when two eggs are fertilised, each by a different sperm and develop in the womb at the same time.
Around 75 percent of the twins’ DNA is identical.
Professor Fisk confirmed that the twins have reached every single developmental milestones.
Researchers in the case claim that the children could pass as identical twins in reference to appearance.
The last set of “semi-identical” twins were born in the US in 2007.
