Twins From Different Fathers: Heteropaternal Superfecundation

SOME MONTHS BACK, another news broke out about a woman who gave birth to twins from different fathers and it began to to rock the Chinese social media space.
It was said that the woman cheated on her husband and had a one-night stand.
Ever since then, almost everyone who had a mouth, health professionals and the laity, had been weighing in on the topic.
Some people said it was not possible, probably some sort of cock-and-bull crap perpetuated by the “husband” to tarnish the image of the “innocent wife”.
Ndi mmadu sef (people self) 😂 😂.
What amazes the most is that these arguments keep raging on despite the fact that doctors actually have a name for that condition.
So in case you don’t know, it’s possible for a woman to be delivered of twins who would be genetically of different fathers.
Yes, I said it.
It’s very rare but extremely possible and it is called HETEROPATERNAL SUPERFECUNDATION.
Take it slowly, now pronounce it again. 😂
It simply means the fertilization of two or more eggs from the SAME MENSTRUAL CYCLE by sperms from different men. In such cases, the twins would be like half siblings with same mother but different fathers.
This is as opposed to the usual homopaternal superfecundation where the twins have the same father and appear as fraternal twins (of same father).

Twins with different fathers
twins with different fathers black and white
Credit: YouTube

As we all should know by now, during ovulation, one egg (ovum) is released under normal circumstances. The ovum could be fertilized if sex occurs and pregnancy results.
However, in some situations, both ovaries could release one egg each in the same menstrual cycle, and if the eggs are fertilized by sperms from same man, then fraternal twins result.
Now there could be a rare situation where both ovaries release eggs in the same menstrual cycle but both get fertilized by sperms from different men, because the woman happened to have sex with different men in the SAME PERIOD.
Such a woman would give birth to twins but both would be genetically different, like half siblings. This is what is known as HETEROPATERNAL SUPERFECUNDATION.
“Heteropaternal” means “different fathers”, while “superfecundation” means “fertilization of more than one egg from the same menstrual cycle”.
The thing be like two players scoring goals in the same goal post using two different footballs ⚽ ⚽.
Which kyn goal be that one na? 😂 😂 Will it be 2-0 or 1-0? 😂
It seems impossible, but trust me it’s possible in medicine, but extremely rare.
Heteropaternal superfecundation is commoner in lower animals like cats, dogs and cattle, but very less common in humans. Through out recorded history, the total number of cases reported in humans are less than ten, this new case included.
So you see why it makes me laugh when people seriously argue what they do not know about. It’s best to ask or Google than to make such blind arguments.
In fact, here is the link, headline and article to the original story on Linda Ikeji Blog italized and bolded below👇

“A woman has given birth to twins with different DNA and this opened up a can of worms as it made it clear she had been cheating on her husband.

The woman in China had a set of twin boys but one of the boys didn’t look like the woman’s husband. A DNA test showed that they had different DNA. This increased the husband’s suspicion and the woman was forced to admit that she cheated on her husband in a one-night stand.

The story was revealed after the couple, from south-eastern Xiamen city, had to register the birth of their twin sons at the local police station early last year. In order to complete the registration, they had to produce the results of a paternity test to prove that the babies were theirs.

The husband, identified only as Xiaolong, had wondered why one of his sons didn’t look like him. Upon receiving the DNA results, he was even more shocked at discovering that one of the boys did not have any biological relationship with him, according to a director at the Fujian Zhengtai Forensic Identification Centre.

According to the director, Mr Zhang, Xiaolong was furious after reading the DNA report and confronted his wife.

It is reported that the wife initially denied the affair, and accused her husband of falsifying the results. Upon being confronted by Xiaolong, the wife admitted she had slept with another man and that it was a one-night stand.

The father said he was happy to raise his own child, but not the one from someone else.

Twins being born with different fathers is an extremely rare occurrence, known as heteropaternal superfecundation. According to experts, the exact odds of the phenomenon are hard to calculate, but previous studies suggest the chance could be between one in 400 pairs and one in 13,000 pairs, according to The Guardian”.

In fact, there’s an even rarer condition where an ALREADY PREGNANT woman happens to OVULATE and the released egg is FERTILIZED, resulting in a TWO PREGNANCIES of DIFFERENT GESTATIONAL AGES inside the SAME WOMAN.
It’s known as SUPERFETATION

Twins from different fathers
twins from different fathers black and white

Let me leave it for another day before some of you get lost.

This article is the intellectual property of:

~ Caséy Amaefule©

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