In a rare case, a 19-year-old woman from Minerios, Goias, Brazil, gave birth to twins with two different biological fathers.
The mother, who wished to remain anonymous, decided to conduct a paternity test to confirm the father of her children. DNA testing revealed that only one of the twins matched the man she initially believed to be the father. Upon recalling that she had been intimate with another man on the same day, a second paternity test confirmed that he was the father of the other twin.
This extremely rare phenomenon, known as heteropaternal superfecundation, occurs when two eggs are fertilized by sperm from different men during the same ovulation cycle. Cases like this are estimated to happen in roughly one in a million births.
The incident drew attention due to its rarity and the scientific curiosity surrounding heteropaternal superfecundation, highlighting how genetic testing can provide unexpected results in family biology.
The mother has chosen to keep her identity private, and both children are being raised by her.
