There have never been puppies like these before and the internet can’t get enough of them. As an experienced South African veterinary delivered these two puppies in 2016. He realized that he had never seen anything like them before. But little did he know just how special the pair of pooches would turn out to be. Indeed, animal lovers from all corners of the internet can’t get enough of the little fellas. The story begins in South Africa where a four year old female Irish Wolfhound was once more preparing to give birth. You see she had previously welcomed a litter of ten puppies into the world. However, during complications during that particular labor, medics had to deliver five of the babies via cesarean section. So when the dog was due to deliver another litter her owners wanted her to give the best care possible. As a result, they took their pregnant animal to renowned canine specialist.
Dr Kurt de Kramer’s bustling practice at Rant and Doll Animal Hospital in Mogul City. However, it was clear that she was due for another tough labor by the time the dog got to Dr. De Kramer. In fact, her cervix was open and the fetuses had begun the journey from the uterus to the vagina. Unfortunately, though she was experiencing a great deal of abdominal straining with no appearance of a puppy. So, Dr. De Kramer prepared to conduct another c-section luckily for the Wolfhound.
She was in exceedingly safe hands after all. Dr. De Kramer carries out about 900 cesareans at his practice each year but although C-sections were a routine procedure for the vet, it soon became clear to him that this delivery was going to be anything but ordinary. Before the operation got underway, for instance, Dr. De Kramer was alarmed to discover a strange bulging alongside the Wolfhounds uterus. He believed the lump contained excess fluid presumably encompassing a fetus. So he got to work removing this puppy from its mother’s womb. Dr. De Kramer cut along the uterus bulge to pull out this first fetus But this was when the veterinary noticed something very unusual indeed. Where he had expected to find one fetus there were two. It turned out that the Irish Wolfhound had been expecting twins among her litter. But the real shock was one kind of twins. The brothers were both puppies were attached with their individual umbilical cords, and they were linked to the same placenta. This meant that they were monozygotic or identical twins.
Dr. De Kramer just could not believe what he was seeing. What I realized that the puppies were of the same gender and that they had very similar markings. I also immediately suspected that they might be identical twins having originated from the splitting of an embryo, He told BBC Earth in August of 2016. But Dr. De Kramer didn’t have the luxury of being able to look in wonder at the miraculous twins. No, he had another five puppies to deliver. But returning to the rest of the delivery only reminded Dr. De Kramer how unusual the site he had just uncovered really was. Unlike their brothers then, the rest of the Wolfhound babies were each attached to their own placenta In fact during his 26-year career as a veterinary professional, Dr. De Kramer had never delivered two living puppies that shared a placenta before. So after he had finished the Wolfhound deliveries, he conducted some research and that’s when he discovered just how rare the twin brothers truly were. Yes tests later confirmed that the two Irish Wolfhound pups were the first-ever known case of monozygotic twin dogs in many species including dogs. Identical twins rarely survive this is because it’s hard for two fetuses to derive adequate nutrients from just one placenta, and because of small but visible differences in the markings on the puppy’s fur, Dr. De Kramer had at first been unsure if the dogs were identical at all. But he learned that just as in humans, animal twins who share the same DNA can still have subtle external differences. So that’s how the pups Cullen and Romulus became known as the first identical doggy twins. But while they might have been the first of their canine kind recorded in veterinary history, it’s unlikely that the brothers were actually the first ever. After all female dogs often deliver several puppies at a time in litters. Usually many of the babies will look physically identical – and it’s that standard practice for vets to perform DNA test to establish monozygotic twins. Add this to the fact that the female dog having delivered her brood will often wolf down the placentas. It means that any identical twins born in the past could well have gone unnoticed and if it hadn’t been for the moms difficult labor Dr. De Kramer might have missed these special genes too.
We were so lucky that this mom ended up having a c-section. Carolyn June, a reproductive specialist at James Cook University in Australia told BBC earth there would have been one less placenta than there were pups. But as the canine mother often eats the placentas, the owner probably would have simply shrugged it off. June was one of the specialists who confirmed that Colin and Romulus were identical twins after Dr. De Kramer sent her some of their blood. June maintains that there’s no real way of knowing how rare canine twins are. There have been rumors about twins and dogs before she said we just happen to be lucky enough to be able to confirm it genetically. But while non-identical multiple births are common in a range of species, identical births are thought to be extremely scarce. Believe it or not, the only common examples of animals that frequently give birth to identical twins are human beings and armadillos. So, understandably, Cullen and Romulus birth caused a lot of excitement online. Indeed thousands of animal lovers have watched the YouTube video documenting the unusual animals arrival. And the simple fact that the pair are absolutely adorable hasn’t harmed the pooches popularity in the slightest. So while Cullen and Romulus remain the only confirmed cases of identical twin dogs on the planet, scientists are hopeful that they’ll come across more soon. People don’t see these things unless they know to look June said.
As found on Youtube
