Two exceedingly rare elephant twins were born in a wildlife sanctuary in southeast Sᴏᴜᴛʜ Aғʀɪᴄᴀ. In the Pongola Game Reserve in Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, where their mother and the rest of the herd were keeping an eye on them, the unnamed infants were observed this week.
A cow in Kruger National Park gave birth to twin elephants in 2006, which was the last time this happened in the area. Twin elephant births are up less than 1% of all births.
The twin’s father is thought to be Ingani, a 44-year-old elephant bull who ᴘᴀssᴇᴅ ᴀᴡᴀʏ just over a year ago; Curve, a 31-year-old cow, gave birth to the two elephants. Curve has a lot of help from the rest of the herd in raising her offspring, despite the fact that the twins’ father is no longer engaged.
Because they are giving Curve room to tend to and feed her babies so they can get off to the best possible start, the Pongola Game Reserve administration has not yet determined the gender of the twins.
Dr. Ian Whyte, an expert on elephants and a former member of the National Parks Board stated that twin mortality typically happens when the mother cannot meet the two calves’ increasing demand for milk. Since the less dominant of the two calves typically is unable to obtain its share, this is where to begin.
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