Scientists have been left baffled by a rare phenomenon in Kerala’s Kodinhi village which has the largest numbers of twins in the country.
According to a Newsminute report, out of the village’s total population of 2000, there are 400 pairs of twin and over the years scientists have failed to provide a scientific explanation behind it.
And the puzzling trend has now brought together genetic researchers from India, Europe and South America to offer the conclusive reasons about the phenomenon.
Here’s all you need to know about the village :
- Located in Kerala’s Malappuram district, Kodinhi is a remote and sleepy village where the twinning phenomenon, according to locals, began three generations ago, says a Dailymail report published in 2009.
- Back in 2009, a local doctor and twin enthusiast Dr Krishnan Sribiju had estimated that the number of twin pairs had doubled in past ten years. Eight years after their estimate, not only have they been proven right but it has also shed light on the failure of genetic researchers to arrive at an explanation.
- As per the Newsminute report, the national average of twin births is not more than 9 in 1000 births. However, in Kodinhi, 45 twin pairs are born per 1000 births.
- A 2016 report published in The Hindu states that a joint team comprising researchers from various institutions in India, Germany, and the U.K. collected saliva samples from the twins of the Kodinhi village to isolate their DNA.
- The 12-member team of researchers from CSIR’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; Kerala University of Fisheries and Oceanic Studies (KUFOS), Kochi; Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University of Tubingen, Germany; and the University College, London; had camped at Kodinhi and studied the physiology and behaviour of the twins.
- For being the twin hub of India, the residents have named their town as ‘twin town’ and even set up an association called as Twins and Kin Association (TAKA).
- The president of TAKA P Bhaskaran told Newsminute:
“In 2008, we formed a small committee and conducted a survey in all the houses in the village. To our surprise, we found that there were 280 pair of twins then. It was then that all of us realised that there was something special about our village. We did some research and got to know that the only other place where such a phenomenon is seen is in Brazil. We then formed the association and got it formally registered as a body that works for the welfare of the twins.”
- While this kind of phenomenon in certain populations has been well recorded, researchers argue that “until today, no studies have provided scientific rationale for twinning in specific populations,” the Hindu report adds.
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