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Given that blue eyes are recessive and you must get the gene for blue eyes from both parents, we know he carries the blue eyed gene. That, I assume, means he is mixed race. That makes the odds more like 50/50 of a twin pregnancy resulting in one black and one white twin. I'm going to guess the 1/500,000 is simply a comparison to all births. First you'd have to have a couple capable of having black or white children (probably pretty low odds) and then they have to have twins and then one twin is white and the other black.
However, even if the 1/500,000 is correct, the odds are not 2/1,000,000 of two such births. Someone can't do math here. The odds would be 1/500,000 * 1/500,000 but that's assuming who we marry is random when it's not. Once you have a couple capable of having children of either race, it's simply the odds of having twins/2 for each set. (BTW, women who have had one set of fraternal twins are more likely than normal to have another set of twins.)
My neighbor who had three sets of twins in four years is probably more rare.
So the story here isn't race, but really just that one couple has had two sets of fraternal twins, right? And that in both cases the kids inherited different appearance-related traits like skin color, hair, or eye color? And the news stories just talk about the parents being "black" and "white," but that's all pretty vague, too, when it comes to genetics, and many of us are carrying recessive genes that would surprise us (someone from a family with all brown eyes having a blue eyed child, for example). Obviously rare, and a great photo opportunity, but it doesn't seem shocking.
I'd also be curious to know more about the statistics in general. The number of women who are naturally predisposed to having twins isn't that high, and within that population how many of them are married to men of different races, and are being studied? In the US, anyway, it hasn't been that long since interracial marriage was illegal in some parts of the country, and uncommon many other places. I would assume that as time goes on then the pool of women having multiple sets of twins with men of a different race will go up, and then they'll be able to have increasingly accurate statistics drawn from a larger pool. Then again, I'm no scientist, so maybe that's not the case at all.
Aside from the multiracial bit, I've read that one's chances of a second set of spontaneously-occurring multiples is 1:4 (I believe it's still around 1:80-90 for the first).
I don't know the statistics on third or fourth sets. I expect after the second set, most couples no longer have enough time alone to find out.
My neighbor who had three sets of twins in four years is probably more rare.
And I'm sure we'll be seeing them on Supernanny or Nanny 911 soon with the mom crying that she can't handle all these kids and "didn't know" she was going to have 6 kids in 4 years.....
The thing is, the "lighter" twins are being called white because of comparison to the darker twins. When you look at the older "light-skinned" girl, she definitely has some ethnic facial features, yet since in comparison to her sister she looks Caucasian. I don't think people would be saying "OMG you look so white!" if she was a singular birth--she looks multi-racial.
Well the daughter still could be a throwback, and that happens at times. However it is very fortunate that it happened in England and not in South Africa. There was a case of a throwback of a white africaner couple under apartheid gave birth to a child that was very dark in appearance.
The child was called Sandra Laing and she was born in the height of apartheid in the 1950s and she went to an all white school and was bashed up and harrased by other white students and teachers. She was eventually expelled from school, and not allowed to go to whites only resturants cause of the colour of her skin. Its a very sad tale, and their is a new movie comming out about that story called "skin".
Her parents eventually disowned her and even her sibblings as they came out lighter in appearnce. Even today her brothers and sisters dont wish to have any contact with her. Her father died and she did manage to patch up things with her mum just before she died a few years ago after her father died.
Last edited by other99; 02-14-2010 at 04:35 AM..
Reason: edit
Location: Moving around west virginia looking for home
536 posts, read 415,180 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by other99
Well the daughter still could be a throwback, and that happens at times. However it is very fortunate that it happened in England and not in South Africa. There was a case of a throwback of a white africaner couple under apartheid gave birth to a child that was very dark in appearance.
The child was called Sandra Laing and she was born in the height of apartheid in the 1950s and she went to an all white school and was bashed up and harrased by other white students and teachers. She was eventually expelled from school, and not allowed to go to whites only resturants cause of the colour of her skin. Its a very sad tale, and their is a new movie comming out about that story called "skin".
Her parents eventually disowned her and even her sibblings as they came out lighter in appearnce. Even today her brothers and sisters dont wish to have any contact with her. Her father died and she did manage to patch up things with her mum just before she died a few years ago after her father died.
Uh yea...I think her mom might have been messing around on the dad ya think?
Location: Moving around west virginia looking for home
536 posts, read 415,180 times
Reputation: 107
Quote:
Originally Posted by other99
Well there were blood tests, and it was proven the real father was not a black man but the husband of the woman.
Ahh. That is really weird then. I bet one of the parents had a black ancestor then. Sometimes that happens.
[mod cut]
Last edited by mrstewart; 02-14-2010 at 07:43 PM..
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