It is a general query - whether animals can have identical twins, that is, twin babies, which look identical or exactly similar! In the internet, I saw some photos of two similar looking cats etc. What causes identical twins in birth? Kindly enlighten!
I have no idea but this appears to be a good site that provides some photographic evidence. See the image from the site shown here for dogs.
http://theverybesttop10.com/identical-twin-animals/
Generally speaking: most of the Invertebrates (Proterostomia) cannot have twins in their offspring because of the deteminate cleavage (mosaic cleavage) in which - to summarize - if you separate one cell during early embryonic development -> that cell will die; while in Vertebrates and their relatives (Deuterostomia) you have indeterminate cleveage wich means you can separate a cell during early embryonic development and that cell will give you the same organism as the rest of the cells from which you separated that cell. Since these two - let's call it cell-mases - have the same genome, they will give you the twins, id est two organisms that are the same in genotype and phenotype - or very very similar.
Thus, the conclusion is: you can find twins in Deuterostome animals, but not in Proterostome animals.
I have no idea but this appears to be a good site that provides some photographic evidence. See the image from the site shown here for dogs.
http://theverybesttop10.com/identical-twin-animals/
Dear Nageswara Rao - I saw the same set of photos in the internet, which inspired me to ask this query. Thanks for providing a great link. The first photo is very nice.
identical twins can only be detected by analyzing animals at the genetic level.
http://www.ipic.iastate.edu/reports/00swinereports/asl-662.pdf
From my personal experience, I can say yes; animals can have identical twins. In many cases, animal twin babies look identical and exactly similar.
Dear Colleagues,
Good Day,
Twins are common in many animal species, including cats, sheep, ferrets, giant pandas, dogs, deer, marmosets, and tamarins. The incidence of twinning among cattle is about 1–4%, and research is under way to improve the odds of twinning, which can be more profitable for the breeder if complications can be sidestepped or managed. A female calf that is the twin of a bull becomes partially masculinized and is known as a freemartin.
but what about identical?
Unlike fraternal twins, which arise from two independently fertilized eggs, identical twins come from the same fertilized egg, which splits and becomes two separate embryos. Depending on when the split occurs, the twins may or may not share a single placenta. The earlier the split, the greater the chance they will each have their own placenta.
DNA tests are the only conclusive way to prove identical twin dogs, and no reports exist of dogs proven to be genetically identical. Conjoined animals are often identical twins. Reports of conjoined dogs would be consistent with the idea that they are identical twins because conjoined twins usually result from an incomplete split of a fertilized egg that would have produced identical twins. But although conjoined kittens are not that unusual, conjoined puppies are rarely if ever reported. There’s no conclusive evidence that identical twins exist in dogs.
please, see the following links for further reading.
http://www.earthporm.com/25-animal-twins-tough-tell-apart/
http://pets.thenest.com/can-kittens-twins-11940.html
http://io9.com/these-monkeys-always-give-birth-to-twins-how-do-they-1491323619
http://www.catchannel.com/magazines/catfancy/toc_article/toccattwin.aspx
Dear Sundarapandian Vaidyanathan,
the phenomena of the identical twins is correlated to the cleavage type according to determination (determinate and indeterminate), id est to indetermiante cleavage which is radial in Deuterostomes, while spiral (and determinate) in Proterostomes.
For more explanations, please check the following link:
http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol112/Biol112WebPage/Syllabus/Topics/Week%208/Week%208.htm
There is a good scheme (attached bellow), check it, as well.
Kind regards.
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