RARE Birth – Once In A Lifetime!

In Thailand this month, one of the rarest events in the mammal world has occurred in captivity. An elephant gave birth to twins, one of whom nearly didn’t make it and had to be rescued by a veterinary caregiver, who was injured in the incident.

The mother is an Asian elephant named Jamjuree, thirty-six years of age. She gave birth at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal—which sits to Bangkok’s north—to a 176-pound (80kg) male calf on the night of Friday the 7th.

The surprise came when a second calf started poking out. Veterinarian Lardthongtare Meepan said that he was alerted to the second calf when someone shouted that another baby was being born. The 132-pound (60kg) female emerged eighteen minutes after the first delivery. The mother freaked out at the appearance of the second child, and attacked the new arrival in a frenzy.

A mahout—the official name for an elephant keeper—dove into the fray to block the mother’s attack on the newborn, and received a blow on his ankle for his troubles.

Michelle Reedy, te director of the organization Elephant Stay, which offers visitors the chance to feed, bathe, and ride elephants at the Royal Kraal center, said that the mother engaged in the attack because she’d never before given birth to twins. In elephants, twins are a very rare occurrence indeed. The mahout’s actions, she said, saved the calf’s life.

Now that she’s had a chance to get used to them, Jamjuree has accepted both of her calves. The babies are so small that the mahouts had to build a special platform so that they could reach the mother to nurse. Their meals are being supplemented by pumped milk delivered by keepers through a syringe.

According to Save the Elephants, a research organization, twin elephants account for only one percent of elephant births. Male-female fraternal twin pairings in elephants are even rarer, still.