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On average, twins are delivered just a few minutes apart — but this isn’t always the case. In 1996, for instance, a Maryland woman named Lesa West gave birth to fraternal twins over a span of 90 days. On January 1 of that year, Lesa and her partner David welcomed their daughter Molly into the world, who was born premature. After Molly’s birth, doctors were able to stop Lesa’s contractions so she could carry the other baby to full term. Three months later, on March 30, Lesa finally gave birth to little Benjamin, setting an all-time record for the longest gap between the birth of two twins.
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It's a factOn December 6, 1969, the Rolling Stones headlined the Altamont Free Concert in California, alongside Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and others. According to the American Red Cross, four concertgoers gave birth during the six-hour spectacle, which was attended by roughly 300,000 people.
When it comes to triplets, the longest recorded interval between births is shorter, albeit still quite substantial. On September 20, 2004, Kara McBurney of Missouri gave birth prematurely to her son Lorne. Kara then remained in the hospital for weeks until she delivered her son Sullivan 17 days, 18 hours, and 55 minutes later, and her son Isaac shortly after. There have also been two recorded instances of women delivering quadruplets over the span of several days. In general, twins are delivered earlier than single-baby pregnancies, and less than one in every two twin pregnancies lasts beyond 37 weeks. Once the first baby is delivered, it’s preferable to deliver the next child in about 15 minutes to avoid complications, and the majority of twins are delivered within 30 minutes. It doesn’t always take that long, however: The shortest recorded time between twin births was a Canadian woman named Amanda Dorris, whose twins were born just 22.976 seconds apart on April 6, 2017.
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Babies are born with around 300 ______.
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Babies are born with around 300 bones.
African elephants have the longest gestation period of any land mammal.
If you thought being pregnant for nine months was difficult, you should thank your lucky stars you aren’t an elephant. The African elephant has a gestation period of around 22 months, the longest of any land mammal. Asian elephants are also known for their lengthy gestation periods, between 18 and 22 months. But that’s just on land — things get a bit more extreme when you factor in creatures that live in the water. Take, for instance, the Chlamydoselachus anguineus, a shark found off the coasts of Chile and South Africa. This creature is believed to have a gestation period of up to 42 months, possibly due to its intensely cold habitat slowing down its metabolism. On the flip side, there are a few land mammals with gestation periods as short as 12 to 13 days, including the Virginia opossum and the water opossum.
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism Media, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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