'Black and White' Twins in the UK First of a Kind in the Country

Twins Amelia and Jasmine have generated attention because of their different skin colors. The two are said to be the first "black and white" twins in the United Kingdom who were born from the same egg.

The mother of these cute baby girls, Libby Appleby, said in a Telegraph report that she was informed that she is having identical twins. However, she claimed that she was stunned when she saw that Amelia had dark skin with black hair while Jasmine had fair skin and blue eyes.

"When they were born, we were flabbergasted, even the doctors couldn't believe it," the mother narrated. "They look like they're different races. Amelia is the spitting image of her dad, while Jasmine is a mini version of me."

She also mentioned in a Yahoo Sports report that even the father of the twins, Tafadzwa Madzimbamuto, could not believe his eyes when he saw the twins.

"We put them next to each other in a cot and couldn't believe how different they were. Amelia was so much darker than Jasmine, they barely even looked related," Appleby said. "Doctors told us the chances of conceiving mixed race twins are one in a million. We were thrilled they were so unique."

Despite the big difference in their appearance, parents claimed that doctors told them the two are genetically identical, a first of a kind in the country. Daily Mail detailed that the two were developed from the same zygote while inside their mom's stomach.

In providing an explanation for such occurrence, Department of Twin Research's Dr. Claire Stevens said in the Daily Mail report that the appearance of the two could be attributed to how they were developed inside the womb. "However, an exception might be when a change in one of these genes that control skin colour happens after the twins separate in very early development - so called somatic mutation," she noted.

She also claimed that the environment where the two were developed may have also affected their appearance. "For example if one has had greater sun exposure or has developed a condition where the pigmented cells are affected, which may happen to one just by chance," the doctor noted.