• Question: do identical twins have identical fingerprints?

    Asked by anon-10710 to Ed on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ed Morrison

      Ed Morrison answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I don’t think they do, do they? Even though they have the same genes, the way they develop in the womb determines the shape of the ridges on the finger, which means that identical twins can have different fingerprints.

      Talking about fingerprints, I heard on TV that koala bears have fingerprints very similar to humans. Perhaps there is a criminal koala mastermind out there committing crimes which the police are blaming on people!

Comments

  • Photo: dyslexiabbrain

    dyslexiabbrain commented on :

    No they do not, all finger prints are unique to every individual. Just because they share the same genes does not mean they have identical finger prints. If you think about it, there are finger prints for every dead person that lived and every person that is to come. Non of these prints are exactly identical. However i do like eds idea of mastermind koala criminal bears!

  • Photo: Richard

    Richard commented on :

    Hi Afzal, I am a fingerprint expert from the forensic zone http://ias.im/u.9589

    Ed is absoluely right in what he says… Identical twins will have the same DNA but will NOT have the same fingerprints. They may have very similar patterns as there is a genetic link… But the tiny “charateristics” that make us all unique will be different… And as mentioned, this is down to conditions within the womb.

    As for koalas… There are lots of animals with uniquely identifying features:

    Anything with hands or feet that they use for grip will have prints similar to our own.

    The spots and stripes on animals such as leopards, tigers and zebras would be unique.

    There was a lot of research conducted on the nose prints of cattle which proved uniqueness.

    I believe there is ongoing research at a Bristol uni looking at marks on shark fins.

    Hope this helps 🙂