A mother and her baby have gone viral as commenters remarked that they reacted in the same way to being startled by a sudden noise.
Ashley Sambell was recording a video to show off her 9-month-old son's outfit when alarm sounds began blasting through her home and their complex was ordered to evacuate.
Everyone was safe, and Sambell later posted the video of herself and Mickey reacting to the noise and standing outside with the building's other occupants. However, when she shared the clip on TikTok, many commenters had the same response.
"No DNA test required, that response was EXACT," one viewer wrote.
Sambell, 27, told Newsweek, "I knew our response was similar, but I didn't realize how exact they were until people started pointing it out in the comments!"
In the clip, which Sambell posted on July 22 under the handle @ashmojit0, she cuddles her son in front of the camera. When alarms start sounding, she and Mickey—with shocked faces and their arms out—look around wildly.
"It was definitely funny catching the moment on camera. I always seem to miss them," said Sambell, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
She added, "It will be funny to show him when he's older how alike he is to his mum!"
TikTok users loved the clip, which has been viewed more than 6.6 million times and liked 1.4 million times. One viewer wrote, "Yall had the same reaction," while another added, "Not yall reacting the exact same way LOLOLOL."
A user said, "The way you both startled and started looking around!"
The startle response is something humans, and all mammals, are inherently born with as an instinctive mechanism for self-defense, Britannica said.
Doctors test newborns to ensure they have this response, known as the Moro reflex in babies, almost immediately after birth.
In humans, it generally prompts an involuntary bending of the limbs and avoidant movement of the head—in Sambell and Mickey's case, in an identical way.
Sambell, a registered nurse on maternity leave, said: "He is definitely my twin. Ever since he was born it's been like looking in a mirror, both looks- and personality-wise."
While she said she didn't expect her clip to go viral, she added that it was "nice to see such a positive response and people finding joy in watching the video."
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