One is almost black and has an afro. The other is a blonde with the palest skin.
Yet remarkably, Tyrelle and Tyreece Charles, from Cramlington, Northumberland, are twins, born six minutes apart.
The pair, who could hardly look less alike, owe their appearance to a one in a million combination of their parents’ genes.
Mother Julia Charles has white parents and father Timothy Charles has a black father and white mother. The staggering result is a two-tone set of little boys.
Now aged eight, the boys have the same cheeky smile and like to dress in the same clothes. They cannot spend a night without each other and are rarely seen apart.
Their parents, both 50, said they were blessed with the boys, who are both beautiful in their different ways.
Mrs Charles, a full-time carer, said: ‘When Tyreece popped out after Tyrelle the midwife and the nurses were utterly shocked. The doctor said he had never seen anything like it.
‘We’ve been told it is very unusual, and people are always amazed when we tell them they are both twins.
‘After they popped out, Tim just shouted to me, ‘we’ve got one of each’, and I couldn’t believe it. Tyreece was so dark and Tyrelle was lily white.
The two boys have looked different since they were born and have spent their childhood being questioned over the way they look
Each year, around 12,000 sets of twins are born in Britain. Of these, 385 of them are black or mixed race.
The odds of a mixed race couple having twins of dramatically different colour are a million to one.
Skin colour is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together.
If a woman is of mixed race, her eggs will usually contain a mixture of genes coding for both black and white skin.
Similarly, a man of mixed race will have a variety of different genes in his sperm.
When these eggs and sperm come together, they will create a baby of mixed race.
But, very occasionally, the egg or sperm might contain genes coding for one skin colour.
If both the egg and sperm contain all white genes, the baby will be white.
And if both contain just the versions necessary for black skin, the baby will be black.
For a mixed-race couple, the odds of either of these scenarios is around 100 to one.
But both scenarios can occur at the same time if the woman conceives non-identical twins – another 100 to one chance.
This involves two eggs being fertilised by two sperm at the same time, which also has odds of around 100 to one.
If a sperm containing all-white genes fuses with a similar egg, and a sperm coding for purely black skin fuses with a similar egg, two babies of dramatically different skin colours are born.
‘It’s when they play together that you can tell they are brothers.’
The couple, who have been together since they were 12-years-old, have five other children, Salina, 34, Tristan, 18, Shellee, 15, Julia, 13 and Clareena, 11.
Salina, Tristan and Clareena are almost black, whereas Shellee and Julia are pale white.
The twins, their youngest children, were born six minutes apart in October 2005. Tyrelle was born first and weighed two pounds heavier than Tyreece.
Now Tyreece is quite a bit bigger than Tyrelle and likes to take care of him. But while they watch out for one another, they enjoy doing different things, explained Tyrelle.
He said: ‘I’m white, I’m like me mam. I like watching Doctor Who but Tyreece doesn’t like it, he likes playing football. I like tennis and he likes playing with his friends.’
Mr Charles, who is currently not working after suffering a stroke, said: ‘We were chuffed, shocked and so surprised when they came out. I was completely made up.
‘It was hard getting them back off the nurses.’
Mr Charles said the younger of the two was very protective of his brother.
He said: ‘Tyrelle has learning difficulties so Tyreece is very protective of him.
‘Tyreece has been bullied in the past for the colour of his skin, but we tell him to just walk away.
‘People have asked whether Tyrelle is my adopted son, they would say ‘he can’t be yours’.
‘It is when they hear him shout ‘Dad’ and then people just ask and they find it unbelievable.
‘I think it is better they are different, they get on so well and they can’t be separated. They curl up in bed together like they are still in their mother’s womb.’
Each year, around 12,000 sets of twins are born in Britain.
The odds of a mixed race couple having twins of dramatically different colour – just like Tyrelle and Tyreece – are a million to one.
Skin colour is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together.
If a woman or man is of mixed race, their eggs or sperm will usually contain possible genes coding for black and white skin which, if they come together, will create a baby of mixed race.
If this is the case in both the egg and the sperm, the baby will be white, or all black – depending on what coding the egg or sperm had.
The odds of either of these scenarios is around 100 to one for a mixed-race couple.
But, if the woman conceives non-identical twins, both scenarios can occur at the same time.
There is about another 100 to one chance of this happening.
This involves two eggs being fertilised by two sperm at the same time – which also has odds of around 100 to one.
If a sperm containing all-white genes then fuses with a similar egg, while a sperm coding for purely black skin fuses with a similar egg, two babies of dramatically different skin colours will be born.
