ANSWERS: 13
  • No, they cannot. Identical twins have identical DNA and as this determines gender, twins must be the same sex if they are identical.
  • Identical means exactly the same. If one is male and one is female, by definition, they are no longer identical.
  • No, Identical twins are the splitting of the same egg so will be of the same gendre. There are five variations of twinning that commonly occur. The three most common variations are all fraternal: (1) male-female twins are the most common result, at about 40% of all twins born; (2) female fraternal twins (sometimes called sororal twins); (3) male fraternal twins. The last two are identical: (4) female identical twins and (5) (least common) male identical twins. Male singletons are slightly, about 5%, more common than female singletons. However, males are also more susceptible than females to death in utero, and since the death rate in utero is higher for twins, it leads to female twins being more common than male twins. Another variety of twins, "polar body twins," (one egg fertilized by two different sperm) is a phenomenon that was hypothesized to occur and may recently have been proven to exist. Polar body twinning would result in "half-identical" twins.[1] Eight month old fraternal twin girls napping. EDIT This is an article from WIKI. I am sorry I cannot put a link but as you will see IDENTICAL twins are of the same gendre.
  • In extremely rare occasions, identical twins can be opposite genders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin
  • Soptamer, I thought that your question was not only crystal clear but also simple and easy to answer. Ever since I posted my answer, it seems that not only did I open up a can of worms but I've touched a nerve or two. C'mon folks, it's not that serious.
  • Well then they wouldn't be identical so.......... No
  • When I first read your question, I immediately though "no it can't happen." Fortunately, I poked around a bit. The answer leans more towards a "sort-of yes" than a definitive "no." People have 23 sets of "chromosomes" (46 total). A chromosome is like a part of blueprint - it contains a portion of the instructions needed to make a person. You need all 23 sets to make a healthy person. Of these 23 sets, one set determines a person's sex - we call this special set the "sex chromosomes." We have two sex chromosomes, called X and Y. Women have two X chromosomes for their set, while men have an X and a Y for their set. Identical twins (generally) share the same genetic information. Such twinning happens when a single fertilized egg splits into two embryos early in the course of development. Under normal circumstances, a fertilized egg that is XX (female) will not to suddenly give rise to an XY twin, just as an XY egg that splits cannot give rise to an XX twin. However, I said under "normal circumstances..." There have been rare reports of male and female "identical twins". Truly, none of the twins is genetically identical as they have a different complement of X/Y chromosomes. Their sex chromosomes differ, but their non-sex chromosomes are otherwise the same. I found no instances where both twins had the normal set of 23 chromosomes. Either one or both had genetic anomalies. How do these very rare events occur? We can't always tell for certain, but it appears the original fertilized egg may have a significant genetic defect such as extra chromosomes, or fragments of sex chromosomes that become stuck to one of the non-sex chromosomes. In some cases the defects may arise early in development - after fertilization, but either before or after the twinning occurs. In all cases, both twins arose from a single fertilized egg. Fraternal twins, twins arising from two separately fertilized eggs, are commonly different genders, though they can also be the same gender. Hope this helps..
  • nope- that would be fraternal twins.
  • Identical twins are not EXACTLY the same (ever). Identical twins are created when one fertilized egg splits into two embryos, and in rare cases, this can produce opposite gender, but "identical" twins. Usually this occurance happens when there is a genetic defect in one or the other twin. Google it. :) -kudos Jtigger and mseve68 for your research.
  • No. They wouldnt be identical then.
  • "Identical twins" is a colloquial way of saying monozygotic twins. This term means, essentially, that they are derived from a single fertilisation and therefore share the same genetics. These twins might be incredibly similar in appearance but I doubt if any are truly identical in every way (certainly their fingerprints should be different). So really, "identical" twins are really "incredibly similar and derived from the same fertilisation" twins (although that's not as catchy). Biology is weird however and things can go awry in the most unexpected of ways. In fact monozygotic twins CAN end up with different sexes. However, it should be made clear that this is an extremely rare event. Don't get the idea that this is in anything but the most extraordinarily exceptional cases. And it certainly doesn't really seem that the female twin would develop terribly well as she would have Turner's Syndrome. So, in fact, despite people's gut reaction of "well if they're identical they HAVE to be the same sex" this is not always the case and "identical" twins can differ in sex. The two things to remember is that "identical" isn't really a precise word anyway as no monozygotic twins are truly identical. And that the frequency of sexually different monozygotic is extremely low. It would be incredibly unlikely that you'll ever meet sexually discordant monozygotic twins. Here are some sources to back up what I'm telling you: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1012913 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1013354 http://8e.devbio.com/article.php?id=111 http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/boygirlident.htm http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110525547/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
  • No they can not
  • no cause a male and a female have certain body parts that do differ first of all in order to be identical ...

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