Having twins is rare , about 1 in 250 natural pregnancies . But having twins who have two entirely different skin tones is exceedingly rare, about one in a million.
That’s what happened to Chantelle, 29, and Ashton, 29, a couple who has twins , Ayon and Azirah.
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While their son, Ayon, has white skin and green eyes, his sister, Azirah, has dark skin and brown eyes.
Here’s how it happened.
Chantelle may look white, but she’s actually mixed race due to her grandfather being Nigerian.
Her husband, Ashton is half Jamaican and half Scottish. Chantelle explained to Tyla that Azirah’s skin kept getting darker and darker after her birth.
“Azirah was slightly darker at birth but you couldn’t really tell. Now as weeks have gone on she has gotten to the point where she’s darker than her dad,” she said.
“Every few weeks friends and family still say they can’t believe it.”
A similar situation happened to twins, Kalani and Jarani Dean.
Looking at this picture, you might assume that the girls are just close friends. But they’re actually twins! Kalani got her white skin from her mother, Whitney Meyer from Quincy, Illinois.
Meanwhile, Jarani has brown skin like her dad, Tomas Dean, who is Black.
“At first when they were born, I wanted to believe it but it’s so rare I didn’t think it’d happen to my twins!” Meyer told CNN affiliate KHQA . “But sure enough they’re biracial twins!”
The name for this phenomenon is dizygotic.
Another word for this is fraternal. This means that the twins started off in the same egg and then divided. Since each baby inherits a different combination of genes from their parents, mixed couple children can inherit different races.
Chantelle’s twins get lots of attention from strangers who assume that the twins have different dads.
“When you’ve got a twin pushchair people seem to notice you more anyway. I think people are gonna think I’ve had two different kids with two different dads!”
“They do a double take and comment on how unusual it is,” she continued.
“People just stop and say ‘oh my god’, they just look totally different. I’ve had people ask ‘are they both yours?'”
She explained that her children are different in looks — and personality.
“Azirah is really laid back and chilled, whereas Ayon was wants a lot more attention,” she said.
“He always wants to be rocked and is constantly babbling along. Azirah doesn’t do that very often,” she continued, adding that they are staring at each other more and smiling.
She predicted that her children will have different hair as they grow.
“I think they will stay like this. I think their hair will be different too,” she said. “Azirah will have thick and curly hair and Ayon’s will be completely different.”
“You can already feel the difference in texture,” she continued.
In addition to the puzzling comments from strangers, Chantelle said that she also gets lots of comments from people telling her how adorable her children are.
How could they not?!
“A lot of elderly ladies stop me and tell me how beautiful it is,” she said.
“A lot of the time people don’t want to mention it but when we tell them they say it’s crazy as you don’t see it very often.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way though, it’s certainly unique!”
