Twin elephants

A week ago, in Samburu national reserve in northern Kenya, the rare of event of two twin elephants who have just been born. The male and female were first spotted when the tour guides were out on safari. They are one of the only two sets of twin calf being seen by local charity Save The Elephants. The case of elephant twins is extremely rare narrowed down to 1% as the last recorded was in 2006. The charity founder Dr lain Douglas-Hamilton that this was quite a critical time as the last twin set of calves born 15 years ago have not lived long after their birth. Often mothers don’t have enough milk to feed both, and he added “we all have our fingers crossed for their survival”. Did you know that elephants have the longest gestation period for a mammal? They carry their young for about 22 months and give birth approximately every 4 years.

By Tess Barnes, Amanda Woods and Serra Yalgin