Newborn twins simply won't stop cuddling – just like they did in the womb

Having a twin can be something truly special: a person who is there from the very first second, a bond that lasts a lifetime. A video from a Paris clinic shows in the most touching way just how deep that bond runs – and that it apparently begins long before birth.

It shows two newborn twins, both less than two months old, being bathed together. But instead of drifting calmly in the warm water, the two do something that brings millions of people to tears: they wrap their tiny arms and legs around each other and hold on tight, as if they never want to let go.

Nestled so closely together, their foreheads almost touching, they look like one single little being – exactly the way they lay for nine months in their mother's belly. No matter how gently the hands holding them move them apart, the twins keep seeking each other out.

The video became an enormous phenomenon online. On YouTube alone it has now been watched almost 50 million times, with countless more views on other platforms. In the comments, people fall over themselves with emotion. «This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen,» one writes. «They don't even know yet how big the world around them is – they only know each other,» says another.

What's remarkable is that even though the clip first did the rounds some years ago, it keeps resurfacing on social media and reaches a fresh wave of moved viewers every time. Some images simply never lose their power – and this is clearly one of them. But behind the enchanting footage there's more than a sweet coincidence: it's a carefully developed method that makes exactly this behaviour possible.