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Berlin twins born with different skin tones

Published: 16 Jul 08 16:19 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20080716-13103.html

A Berlin couple got an interesting surprise this week when the woman gave birth to twins with very different skin tones.

One of the two boys born on July 11 to the German father and Ghanaian mother has dark skin, and the other has light skin.

"We all couldn't believe it," said the Lichtenberg maternity ward's head doctor, Birgit Weber, said on Wednesday. "The staff came from all corners of the ward to see and the mother just kept looking from one child to the other."

The West African mother and the father from Potsdam named their healthy boys born Ryan and Leo.

"It is very unusual for twins to be born with different skin color," Weber said. "It's the first time for our clinic."

The mother said it took a while to process the event. "I imagine sitting at a playground where the other mothers will call me crazy when I tell them the boys are twins," she said.

Coincidentally, the 2008 International Congress of Genetics is being held in Berlin this week. Head of the conference, Dr. Rudi Balling said the event is very unusual. "But it is definitely possible, because ultimately the genes of both parents are combined.

DPA/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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