Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve and wildlife enthusiasts have a special reason to celebrate as one the elephants of the reserve has given birth to twins – an extremely rare event, according to wildlife conservationists.
Video:
An extremely rare case. Twins born to an elephant at Bandipur. https://t.co/H3r2wCcy60 pic.twitter.com/h1E51wFb6b
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) April 21, 2022
It was the tourists and staffers who spotted this pregnant elephant in the herd and to ease the delivery pain she moved to a small water body and gave birth to the calves. With the news about this birth spreading, more people arrived, scaring the mother and calves
Talking to the media, Dr. Ramesh Kumar, the BTR Director said: “The wild cow elephant, which was still in post delivery pain, was petrified to come out of the water as a large crowd had gathered. Everyone could see two small heads floating in the water. Fearing that they would drown as all three were not coming out of the water, we cleared the crowd and guarded the area. After a long wait, feeling safe, the mother elephant emerged from the water body and then helped her calves out.”
The Bandipur Forest officials said that the next few days will be crucial for the survival of the calves since birth of twins is rare – seen only in one per cent of captive animals — and very often the mother does not have enough milk to sustain both. Hence a close watch will be kept on the mother and the calves.
All the three are well and joined the herd with the officials not tracking them as they don’t want to disturb them.
This is the second such birth recorded in Bandipur as in the 1980s Ashwin and Bharini were born.
