twins

Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy. Twins can be either monozygotic ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic, meaning that each twin develops from a separate egg and each egg is fertilized by its own sperm cell. Since identical twins develop from one zygote, they will share the same chromosomal sex, while fraternal twins may or may not. In very rare cases, fraternal or (semi-) identical twins can have the same mother and different fathers.