What are identical twins?

Identical twins are two brothers or sisters who look exactly the same and were born from one egg.

Imagine you have a cookie cutter that makes perfect circles, like the ones you use to make cookies in the shape of stars or hearts. Now imagine that cookie cutter made two cookies at once, and both cookies looked exactly the same. That’s what happens with identical twins!

Like One Egg, Two People

When a mom has a baby, it usually starts with one egg, like a tiny ball in her body. For identical twins, that one egg splits into two eggs right away! Then each of those two eggs grows into a person. Because they both started from the same egg, they end up looking just alike, like two cookies made from the same dough!

Same Inside and Out

Even though they look the same when they’re born, identical twins can grow up to be very different people. One might love drawing pictures, while the other loves playing soccer. But deep down, they still have something special in common, they both came from one egg that split into two!

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Examples

  1. Two babies born from the same egg, just like clones.
  2. Identical twins have the same DNA but can still be different people.
  3. They might look the same, but they can have different hobbies and interests.

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Categories: Philosophy · twins· genetics· biology