Amazingly Rare Twins (Ebony & Ivory)

Abc.com ^ | February 22, 2006 | ABC News

[FreeManWhoCan]

February 22, 2006 - Take a look at these adorable little British girls. They were Good Morning America's picture of the week.

As you can see, one looks white and one looks black. But they are biological twins! Their names are Kayeen and Roomay. Mom and dad are of mixed race.

We're told, the odds of having twins this diverse in color is one in one million!

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Well, for what it's worth, here's how the Daily Mail calculated it:


http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/mixedtwins.asp

[HamiltonJay]

Well they are using a 1% chance that an egg or a sperm would contain all white or all black genes.... not a 25% chance... so yea, if you do that, you easily get to 1 million....

[Varda]

This web site has a group of South Africans with albinism. Note that not all have blonde hair and in other photos African albinos can have very golden tan skin (blue eyes, golden blonde hair)

http://www.michaelstevenson.com/contemporary/exhibitions/hugo/albino.htmlight

[Fintan Lalor]

1%? 25%?

Uhh, if they're using those percentages they need to go back to grade school or junior high and retake that first biology class. A few math classes couldn't hurt either.

It's NOT physically possible for either of those percentages to show up, at least when you're considering normal reproduction.

You see, we each have two chromosomes. One from our father, and one from our mother. If you're female, you have one X from your mother, and your father's X chromosome. If you're male you have one of your mother's X chromosomes, and your father's Y chromosome.

A sperm cell (rare mutations aside) EITHER the father's X chromosome or his Y chromosome. An egg (once again, mutations aside) contains EITHER her mother's X or her father's X.

Your chromosomes do not engage in wild orgies with one another as you are being conceived. They don't usually swap genetic material with one another. So, the chromosome you inherit from your mother is the same one she inherited from one of her parents. Likewise on the father's side.

*hint* You can't be 3/4ths Irish and 1/4th Black. You're either 50/50 or 100%. You're only related to TWO of your grandparents (unless they were inbreeding, in which case you should be posting on DU instead of here). It's not PC, but then no one's ever accused the laws of nature of being overly concerned with political correctness.


POP QUIZ!
What is the race of the PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER?

You can derive the answer from looking at a photograph of the twins. You need no other information.

If you fail this quiz, I will expect a 5-page report on Mendelian Genetics (double-spaced; 10-point font; Times New Roman). I expect you to define: Chromosome; Heredity and Heritable Traits.

[Varda]

Let's try that link again.
http://www.michaelstevenson.com/contemporary/exhibitions/hugo/albino.htm

[em2vn]

Thanks for the link but a photo display wasn't what I was hoping. There isn't a way to determine if those people are albinos or representative of some other condition.
The narrative that accompanies the photos identifies them as albinos does, however, I am unsure as to the knowledge of the author.
It is time for some digging on my part.
Again, thank you.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

That child doesn't look like any African blooded albino I've seen...but the pics I've seen aren't good enough to be sure.

But with a mixed blooded family like that, it's not unusual that a kid would pop who was lighter skinned...the unusual thing is that it's in a twin set.

[darbymcgill]

POP QUIZ! What is the race of the PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER?

CHEAT SHEET FOR QUIZ...

see #46

[darbymcgill]

oops... 46 = 56

[darbymcgill]

oops again... 56 = 61

sorry...

[kalee]

What cuties!

[Sloth]

Obviously neither of you has the slightest clue of how genetics work.

[Varda]

African albinos are more common than European albinos so someone with partial African ancestry is more likely to carry it. I agree that someone with mixed ancestry can produce throwbacks in every direction but I would expect most traits to be inherited in groups. The fact that this little girl looks so much like her sister (except for pigment) makes me suspect a more unusual inheritance pattern at work.

[null and void]

"And the weirdest one that I came across. These boys are 11 now I think. First of all, their names are Koen and Tuen, pronounced Koon and Toon - guess which one is named Koen? Anywho....They were voted the world's least alike twins for good reason. One is black, one is white and they have different fathers. In a nutshell, the mother had in vitro fertilization and apparently the pipette used had a black man's sperm still in it. At least, that's what they think happened cause the black couple in the waiting room the same day they were there got tested and the man is the father."

From a quick web search. The 'I' isn't me, although I remembered the story from a decade or so ago...

[Ro_Thunder]

I had an interesting encounter with history when I joined the Navy.

I, being caucausin, was called by medical along with 4 black guys in my boot camp company.

All of us were told we either had Sickle Cell, or had Sickle Cell Trait. I have the trait. I was immediately told I would be retested.

None of the brothers believed me that as far as I knew, I was 'white'. Makes for interesting comments now, especially since 2 of my kids have it, and 2 don't.

[Revolting cat!]

Ebony and ivory? How about pinkish and brownish?

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Didn't look like that to me...her color looked North European normal, rather than African albino. Being sisters, I would expect them to look a lot a like, just because they are related. Need better pics!

(I grew up in New Orleans, where we have all sorts of degrees of mixed blood, mediterranean blood, Central American blood and a cultural imperative that requires people to recognise what ethnic group you belong to - and with a fair amount of albinism. Got a good eye for this, but even so, bad pics don't let you decide much.)

[Old Professer]

Was that a joke?

[Varda]

Yea they are bad pics. I would expect any person with little melanin would look better in England than they would at any lower latitude. It's good that the little girl is there.

[Rebelbase]

No, I remember it as being a Stevie Wonder song that came out in the 70's.