A rare set of twins were born to an Asian elephant in central Thailand, and their caregivers have called it a miracle.
When the 36-year-old mother Chamchuri gave birth to a male calf last Friday, staff at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal assumed the delivery was complete because she was not expecting to give birth to twins.
However, as they were tending to the first baby and getting it upright, they heard a heavy thud and realized Chamchuri had given birth to a second, female calf.
The mother became agitated after the second birth, and caregivers had to hold her down to keep her from treading on the female calf. In the chaos, one caretaker was injured.
Social media users witnessed dramatic images of a group of mahouts, or caretakers, hastily removing the mother calf from her little daughter, who still had blood on her hind legs from birth.
A research organization called Save the Elephants claims that only 1% of elephant pregnancies result in twins, and male-female combinations are even more uncommon.
“The second baby elephant stood up as soon as we removed it from its mother. It’s a miracle; therefore, we were all yelling,” veterinarian Lardthongtare Meepan told the news.
Ms. Meepan, who was raised in an elephant park and is a mother of twins herself, remarked, “We’ve always wanted to see elephant twins, but not everyone can see this because it doesn’t happen very often.”
