# Primates and Twins

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primates-and-twins/549517>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 7, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primates-and-twins/549517 "2010-08-07T15:37:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primates-and-twins/549517/1 "2010-08-07T15:37:04Z")

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Is there a tendency for one race to produce more twins (or other forms of multiple births) than others?

Also, do other primates such as chimpanzees, gorillas, etc., ever produce multiple births?

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**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primates-and-twins/549517/2 "2010-08-07T21:46:28Z")

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Chimpanzees certainly have [twins](http://www.janegoodall.org/chimp-central-twins) on occasion. I don’t see why other primates wouldn’t.

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**Author:** ![Staale\_Nordlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Staale\_Nordlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staale_Nordlie)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primates-and-twins/549517/3 "2010-08-08T00:39:30Z")

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> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> Is there a tendency for one race to produce more twins (or other forms of multiple births) than others?

There are differences between human populations.

> **[Twin | Ethnicity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin#Ethnicity)**
>
> About 1 in 90 human births (1.1%) results from a twin pregnancy. The rate of dizygotic twinning varies greatly among ethnic groups, ranging as high as about 45 per 1000 births (4.5%) for the Yoruba to 10% for Linha São Pedro, a tiny Brazilian settlement which belongs to the city of Cândido Godói. In Cândido Godói, one in five pregnancies has resulted in twins. The Argentine historian Jorge Camarasa has put forward the theory that experiments of the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele could be r 1.Igbo-Ora ...

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**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primates-and-twins/549517/4 "2010-08-09T18:44:30Z")

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_ **anecdote warning** _

When I taught at a Jewish High School, it seemed to me that there were a greater proportion of twins in the school than in the general population.

Also, more left-handed children…