I know a lady who has a set of identical twins. But they have last names which I cannot for the life of me figure out. Can one egg be fertilized by two different men?
2006-08-30 02:28:58 · 33 answers · asked by Carolee C 1 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Pregnancy
There is no article. A friend of mine teaches at a school, who has these two boys in her class. The family is new to town. I've just been pondering on this since last night, if it is possible.
2006-08-30 02:37:34 · update #1
It is extremely rare but it has happened. The result would be fraternal, not identical twins. That is two separate eggs would be fertilized, not one splitting into two zygotes. It happened in Germany to a woman who had sexual relations with two men within a short period of time. One of her twins was a Caucasian baby, and the other was African-American, just as the two men with whom she had sex with when she was fertile.
2006-08-30 02:36:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is not possible for identical twins to have different fathers. It is possible for fraternal twins to have different fathers.
Identical twins happen when a single, fertilized embryo divides into two embryos. This is why identical twins are always the same gender. It is not possible that the single, original egg was fertilized by two different men, or even two different sperm from the same man. An egg MUST be fertilized by exactly one sperm. If multiple sperm enter an egg (this is called polyspermy), the wrong number of chromosomes result, which is not survivable -- the embryo perishes. It cannot survive to become one person, much less twins.
Fraternal twins, on the other hand, happen when the mother ovulates two eggs, and these are fertilized by two separate sperm. Fraternal twins are simply siblings that happen to be in the womb at the same time, and can be the same gender or boy/girl. It is possible, though unusual, to have fraternal twins with different fathers. If the mother has ovulated two eggs, and has sex with two different men within the few days leading up to ovulation, each egg could be fertilized by a different man's sperm.
Maureen
Mom of (fraternal) twins
2006-08-30 03:06:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO!
As a human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes (one from the man and one from the woman) that is all it needs to develope.
If it were possible for two sperm to fertilize one egg the zyogote produced would not be viable and would spontaniously abort.
However, once one sperm has penetrated the wall a change occures that makes the wall impervious to any other penetration.
If the twins were fraternal (non identical) then two sperm have fertilised two eggs, each could have been supplied by different men.
What have the names got to do with it?
2006-08-30 02:31:01 · answer #3 · answered by jemhasb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it is possible to have fraternal twins in which 2 eggs get fertilized by 2 different men but not identical.
2006-08-30 02:32:45 · answer #4 · answered by cam 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No - fertilisation is the nucleus of 2 cells combining - one from the egg and one from the sperm. 2 sperm cannot fertilise 1 egg. Non identical twins can have different fathers since this is 2 eggs hence 2 sperm - but identical twins is 1 sperm, 1 egg and then this splits when the cells start to divide.
2006-08-30 02:33:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The egg only allows 1 sperm 2 enter it. Twins r created after fertilization by the egg splitting.
2006-08-30 03:41:54 · answer #6 · answered by eji7997 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is possible for one egg to be fertilized by two sperm. This is extremely rare but does happen. If it did happen, it would probably not produce twins. If it did produce twins, the only way to know which twin came from which sperm (or man) is to do DNA testing.
All of that sounds kind of rediculous. If they just have different last names, there must be some other reason.
2006-08-30 02:32:26 · answer #7 · answered by Mandragon 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no if an egg is fertilized by more then one egg it will just die and go out in the womans menstrulcycle it wouldnt be possible because of the fact that you can no have more then 46 chromosome which would mean two father you would get some random number of chromosomes whitch is why it wouldnt develop.but it is possible for two diffrent eggs to be fertilized bye two diffrent men but then they wouldnt be identical
2006-08-30 02:35:55 · answer #8 · answered by mistyeyed12 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
precise. As has been pronounced, the egg has many ranges of administration to make advantageous that this never occurs. One sperm according to egg. If some wizard got here alongside and magically made it attainable for 2 sperm to fertilize the egg, the consequent cellular might have 3 copies of the genome fairly of two, and can straight away die.
2016-10-01 02:14:13 · answer #9 · answered by luera 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no once an egg is fertilized that is it noone else's sperm can fertilize that egg. If it's possible I'd like to see the article or source because in my 29 years I have never heard this happening.
2006-08-30 02:31:23 · answer #10 · answered by MOVING 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋