Genes joked: the British gave birth to twins with different skin color

29-year-old British nurse Shantel Broughton was incredibly surprised when she gave birth to twins with different skin colors. At first, she did not even believe that these were her children, according to the popular Daily Mail. When Shantel was brought to the Nottingham maternity hospital in April of this year, the son Aion was born first with fair skin and green eyes, followed by the daughter Azira, whose skin was much darker than her brother's, and her eyes were brown.

The chances of giving birth to two twins with different skin colors are one in a million, doctors say. The fact is that the father of this couple, Ashton, is half Scots, half Jamaican, and Chantelle herself has a Nigerian maternal grandfather.

Chantel Broughton tells reporters that she is regularly asked on the street if these are her children? However, according to her, at first the twins were not too different from each other, but as the weeks passed, Azira's skin color became darker and darker. She says the four-month-old twins are now "completely opposite" personalities but seem to be getting along well: "I'm so glad they've stayed the way they are - our own unique little family. Azira is calm and relaxed, but Aion needs a lot of attention: he always wants to be pumped and constantly chats.

Experts explain that skin color is a very clear example of genetic influence. It all depends on the amount of melanin pigment found in the skin cells, and this amount is predetermined by the genetic program of each cell. There are an infinite number of different skin colors known as phenotypes. They range from black, dark brown, brown and light brown to white.

The more melanin in each parent's genes, the darker that person will be. Therefore, the color of the child usually depends on the predominant amount of melanin in his parents. It happens, although very rarely, that a light-skinned child is born to dark-skinned parents, or vice versa. This happens if their parents or grandparents were darker or lighter than themselves.