Mum gives birth to million-to-one twins with completely different skin colours
A family in Nottingham have experienced a one in a million miracle after welcoming baby twins Ayon and Azirah - who have completely different skin colours.
Chantelle, 29, and Ashton, 29, were left gobsmacked back in April when their son Ayon was born with white skin and green eyes, while his twin sister Azirah has dark skin and brown eyes.
This type of birth is so rare that genetics experts have estimated there's only a one in a million chance of it happening - making Chantelle and Aston's family pretty special!
So, how did it happen?
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Chantelle, an auxiliary nurse, explained that although she looks white, she's mixed race due to having a Nigerian grandad on her mum's side. Meanwhile, her husband Ashton is half Jamaican and half Scottish.
While twins Azirah and Ayon looked similar when they were born at Nottingham City Hospital, Chantelle noticed as the weeks went by that Azirah's skin kept getting 'darker and darker'.
"Azirah was slightly darker at birth but you couldn’t really tell. Now as weeks have gone on she has gotten to the point where she's darker than her dad.
"Every few weeks friends and family still say they can't believe it."
Now four months old, the twins couldn't be more different from each other - both in appearance and personality.
"Azirah is really laid back and chilled, whereas Ayon was wants a lot more attention", she said.
"He always wants to be rocked and is constantly babbling along. Azirah doesn't do that very often.
"But I have noticed they are really staring at each other now and smiling more."
Chantelle predicts that the twins will have totally different hair as they start to grow.
She suggested: "I think they will stay like this. I think their hair will be different too."
"Azirah will have thick and curly hair and Ayon's will be completely different. You can already feel the difference in texture."
As you might expect, Chantelle's twins get a lot of attention from strangers when they go out. The mum joked that there are probably plenty of people who think her babies have different dads.
"When you’ve got a twin pushchair people seem to notice you more anyway. I think people are gonna think I've had two different kids with two different dads!
"They do a double take and comment on how unusual it is.
"People just stop and say 'oh my god', they just look totally different. I've had people ask 'are they both yours?'"
She continued: "A lot of elderly ladies stop me and tell me how beautiful it is.
"A lot of the time people don't want to mention it but when we tell them they say it's crazy as you don't see it very often.
"I wouldn't have it any other way though, it's certainly unique!"
Ali Condon