AnimeshThere was something strange about these pups
Kurt began by making his first incision near the uterus of the dog to pull out the first fetus. He noticed something he didn’t expect at all, there were two fetuses present there instead of just one. This meant that the dog was expecting twins. But what surprised him, even more, was the kind of twins this mother was about to have.
They were identical twins!
He saw that both the fetuses were attached to a single placenta via their separate umbilical cords. He concluded that these two were monozygotic. In layman terms, the embryo from which they had come from had split, making these two identical twins. Dr. Kurt was absolutely amazed by what he had just witnessed, but he had five more puppies to deliver, so he went on with the operation.
This was one bizarre delivery
Rest of the delivery went normally, each of the pups were attached to their discrete placentas, but this only went on to reinforce how bizarre the delivery he just finished was. Never in his 26 years of career had this doctor every delivered twin puppy, and then the thought that he might have experienced a one of its kind delivery crossed his mind. Unable to control his excitement he began doing some research.
He couldn’t believe it himself
As Kurt was congratulating this couple and giving them this amazing news, he himself was in disbelief about the miracle he just witnessed. He rushed back to his office and began his research. During his research, he found out that delivery of twins in the animal kingdom was indeed a very rare occurrence. Now he was curious to find of this could be a milestone in his 26 years of work.
He still wasn’t absolutely sure about his discovery.
During one of his interview with BBC earth, Kurt mentioned: “When 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 wanted to leave no room for doubt so he went to work.
Genetic tests had the answers
There were very visible differences in the markings of the two pups and this was the reason why Dr. Kurt was still unsure if he could label the pups identical yet. He wanted to perform genetic tests on the newborns and so he went to get the owners consent. After conducting these tests in association with Carolynne Joone (a reproductive specialist), it could be said with a speck of doubt that these two pups were in fact monozygotic. But that’s not it, there are more exciting things about this case.