Special Delivery: Rare Set Of Elephant Twins Born In South Africa
Every new elephant birth is a cause for celebration given the state of the species – elephants are killed in record numbers due to rampant ivory poaching. But one pachyderm parent on the Pongola Game Reserve in South Africa is doing more than her part to help replenish the species’ numbers by giving birth to a rare set of twins.
Reserve spokesman Donoven Gloy told The Dodo by phone that the two new arrivals, first reported last week, appear to be healthy in the company of their mother, a 33-year-old named Curve.
“The reaction here has been great,” says Gloy. “Everyone is feeling very positive and they’re receiving quite a bit of attention here in South Africa.”
The prevalence of twins among elephants is said to be exceedingly rare, with studies suggesting it occurs 0.5 percent of the time. Dr. Ian Whyte, an elephant specialist who worked in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, said in a press release, “Though a few cases of twinning have been reported in the Kruger National Park, an examination of the reproductive tracts of over 1200 adult cows culled in the Kruger National Park during population control operations did not yield a single case of twins.”
Morbidity for elephant twins is thought to be high, says Whyte, as the calves often must compete for their mother’s milk. Gloy, however, says that the newborns both seem to be well-nourished and have not been observed squabbling with one another.
As Kruger National Park’s website notes, when twins are born, other female relatives in the herd have been known to take on nursing duties to relieve pressure on their parent.
Gloy says he is optimistic about the future of the twins, seen here interacting with their herd near a watering hole on the 18,000-acre reserve.
Two extremely rare elephant twins have been born on a game reserve in south-east South Africa.
The unnamed babies were spotted on the Pongola Game Reserve in Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal this week, watched over by their mother and the rest of the herd.
Less than one per cent of elephants born are twins, and the last reported set in the area born in 2006, to a cow in Kruger National Park.
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The twins were born to Curve, a 31-year-old cow, and it is thought the father is Ingani, a 44-year-old elephant bull that died just over a year ago.
Although the twins’ father is no longer in the picture, Curve is getting plenty of help from the rest of the herd in caring for her young ones.
‘Mortality of one of the twins usually occurs as the increasing demand for milk by two calves cannot be met by the mother and the less dominant of the two calves usually cannot gain access to its share, so this is the best start,’ Elephant specialist, Dr. Ian Whyte, formerly of the National Parks Board at Kruger National Park said.
Helping hands: Curve takes her young twins to drink alongside another elephant cow and her young
Time to go: The twins and Curve are being left alone by reserve staff so the three can bond in peace