In a news report on the Olsen Twins (of whom I was blissfully ignorant until recently) I was surprised to see it stated that they are not ‘identical’. From the photos with the news report they look like MZs to me.
Of course, even MZ twins are never literally identical. The report mentioned that one twin was an inch taller than the other, but this would be well within the usual range of differences between MZ twins. But it was also said that one twin had blonde hair and the other brown. A difference in natural hair colour would be a strong indicator of DZ status. But is the difference natural? In the photos it looked to me like one twin had a dye-job.
It is not unknown for DZ twins (or even non-twin siblings) to be strikingly similar except for details like the earlobes and the precise shade of eye-colour, which are not visible in the photos of the Olsens. Does anyone know the facts? Even the parents don’t always know the true zygosity of twins, because they are misled by the (false) belief that MZ twins always share a placenta and birth membranes.
Posted by David B at 03:08 PM