To form identical twins, one fertilised egg (ovum) splits and develops two babies with exactly the same genetic information. This differs from fraternal twins, where two eggs (ova) are fertilised by two sperm and produce two genetically unique children, who are no more alike than individual siblings born at different times. Twins are more or less equally likely to be female or male. Contrary to popular belief, the incidence of twins doesn’t skip generations.
They form from one egg being fertilised by one sperm and because of this, each twin shares exactly the same genetic material. They look the same and can be very difficult to tell apart.
We don’t really know what it is that makes the embryo divide so early after fertilisation. This process is not well understood and although many theories have been put forward, there is no absolute explanation for why identical twinning occurs.