The First Time Twin Rare Elephants Born In Elephant Orphanage After 80 Years
On Tuesday, for the first time in 80 years, twin elephants were born in captivity in Sri Lanka, according to wildlife officials.
A 25-year-old elephant named Surangi gave birth to the twin males at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Reuters reports. Their father is 17-year-old Pandu, who also resides at the orphanage.
Renuka Bandaranaike, head of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, told BBC that “both the calves and the mother are doing fine.”
“The babies are relatively small, but they are healthy,” she added.
Sri Lankan elephant expert Jayantha Jayewardene told the outlet that the last set of domestic twin elephants born in the country arrived in 1941.
Established in 1975, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage aims to assist wild elephants in need of rescue or treatment for injuries. The sanctuary is now home to more than 90 of the pachyderms.
Elephants can give birth up to 12 times in a lifetime and tend to have one calf at a time. The chance of an elephant having twins is around 1%, according to the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad.
7,500 elephants live in Sri Lanka, per official reports.
What a miracle! Watch the video below.
