World's first known identical-twin puppies

South African researchers say they have found the first known identical-twin puppies.

University of Pretoria scientists were presented with the pair of male wolfhound puppies.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of monozygotic [derived from a single egg] twinning in dogs, confirmed using DNA profiling," said the researchers.

The puppies were delivered by Caesarian section by Pretoria vet Kurt de Cramer after the mother had been in labour for two hours. They shared a placenta.

"When I realised that the puppies were of the same gender, and saw that they had very similar markings, I suspected that they were identical twins," De Cramer said.