Black and white twins Hayleigh and Lauren Durrant proudly hold their new sisters Leah and Miya — who incredibly are ALSO twins with different coloured skin.
Their mixed-race parents Dean Durrant and Alison Spooner repeated the two-tone miracle after a seven-year gap.
Ebony and ivory ... Alison and Dean Durrant with two sets of twins - Hayleigh and Leah on left, and Lauren holding Miya
When the first set of twins arrived in 2001, the couple were astonished to see that Lauren took after her white mum, with blue eyes and red hair, while Hayleigh had black skin and hair like dad Dean.
Then this year Alison, 27, found she was expecting again — and lightning struck twice.
She had twin girls again. And little Miya was born with dark skin like her dad and Leah is white like former recruitment consultant Alison.
Dean, 33, of Fleet, Hants, said: “The girls just love Miya and Leah to bits.
Delighted
“We didn’t think it was even possible when we had Lauren and Hayleigh — and it didn’t cross our minds that it could happen again. But we are just delighted that it has.”
Early days ... Hayleigh and Lauren in 2002
Alison said: “I was shocked when I first found out I was pregnant with twins again — but I never thought for one second they would turn out the same as last time.
“After the babies were born they weren’t breathing properly, so they were taken to a special care unit.
“It wasn’t until about five days after they were born that we saw them side by side for the first time.
“And when they were together it was clear that one was darker than the other. It was unbelievable.”
Staff at Frimley Park Hospital, in Surrey, decided to deliver the babies by Caesarean section after just 37 weeks of pregnancy, when scans revealed both were breach.
Doctors took 30 minutes to deliver them on November 13, with Miya weighing 4lb lloz and Leah 5lb 10oz.
Alison said: “Now the girls are back home with us and are very healthy. Lauren and Hayleigh think the new arrivals are fantastic.”
Block paver Dean said: “It was a real shock to the system when I found out we were having twins again. I didn’t think the same thing would happen again. The odds must be millions to one against it."
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Black: Me, Vedder
White: Safer Sef
How Does This Happen?
Birthing twins who have different skin colors might seem like a one-in-a-million shot, but the odds are dictated by genetics.
"Just as siblings receive different genes, so do fraternal twins," Fries says.
Fraternal twins are the product of two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm. Therefore, they receive different genetic information.
Scientists believe that at least seven genes are responsible for a person's external hue, Fries says. And though it's more likely that the genes from the mother and father would have caused both children to have blended skin tones, it's simply a matter of chance that the children ended up as opposites.
