Identical twins have similar DNA and a 0.5% chance of being born, which happens by the fertilized female egg splitting into two. The genders for identical twins being the same is 99.9%, with the other 0.1% being a boy and girl pair. Another name for identical twins is “monozygotic twins.” Another form of twins is non-identical twins, which have a 0.7% chance of being born. Non-identical twins happen by there being two female eggs present which then both get fertilized by two different sperm cells. The two other names for non-identical twins are called “fraternal” or “dizygotic twins.” Another fact about twins is that they have different fingerprints due to their genetic makeup and the environment inside of the mother’s womb during pregnancy.

     The two well known twins inside of Hamburg Area High School, Brielle and Alaena Cox, were born on May 9, 2009, within 10 minutes of each other. Brielle’s favorite activities are video games and field hockey, while Alaena’s is just field hockey. The activities that the Cox twins do with each other depends on the mood. They may fight with each other, make inside jokes, or just laugh and hang out. The Cox twins also team up with each other to have a sibling argument with their older sister, Kaeli Cox. Brielle and Alaena have a closer bond with each other due to the fact that they are in the same grade and because they hear the same things from their friends. If the Cox twins want to match with each other, then they will either wear the same outfit but different colors or just wear the same outfits overall. The Cox twins do like being twins and that it was fun. Some advantages that they listed are that they both get laughs and giggles when people mix up the twins and they can also switch seats without anybody knowing. The disadvantage that comes with being twins is that they both get tired of not being called by the right name. One story that comes to mind for the Cox twins is when people confuse them for the other during Halloween. Alanea explains, “…sometimes we’d be wearing two different things, and especially on Halloween when we’re two different people, people still mix us up. But one of the times what we did during Halloween was Brielle would go up to the door and get candy, and this was one of the years where we were the three blind mice, so we looked the same, then I would go up and get candy. And sometimes they refused to give me candy until Brielle came around.”

     The Cox twins cannot read each other’s minds, but they do sometimes say the same thing at the same time. A way to tell the Cox twins apart from each other is by looking for a birthmark on Brielle’s face and also looking for the fact that Alaena is a bit taller than Brielle. Another way to tell them apart is by their face shapes; Alaena’s is a bit more longer and a more rectangular shape while Brielle’s is more of an oval shape.

     The other twins that Brielle and Alaena know are Alannah and Aiden Poulous, Joseph and Jayden Seidel, and Luke and Logan Gottschall.

     As others get to hang out with the Cox twins more, they get to see the differences and then they see the twins as their own individuals.

     To learn more information about twins, visit these websites: science.focus.com, verywellfamily.com, betterhealth.vic.gov.au, nhs.uk, twinstrust.org, and genome.gov