Elephant Gives Birth To Twin Calves In Karnataka's Bandipur Reserve: Why It's A Rare Feat
In an extremely rare event, a wild elephant gave birth to twin calves in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.
According to Forest Department officials, the the elephant gave birth three days ago which was witnessed by tourists and staffers.
The pregnant elephant which was in the herd was spotted near the old ticket counter.
Gave birth away from the herd
"It was struggling to give birth. Soon, it went to a nearby water body. Thereafter, the mother elephant was found coming out of the water body with two calves," an official said.
The tourists and staffers were enthralled to witness such a joyful and hearty moment.
Many had captured the moments on their cameras and mobile phones. The authorities cleared the crowd and let the free movement of mother elephant and calves into the deep forests.
The mother elephant, which was not coming out of water initially seeing a huge crowd, came out with calves after the crowd was sent away.
"We constituted two teams. One of them distracted the mother elephant and drew it away from the site while the other team helped the calves get out of the water," said Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
The Forest Department staff jumped into the ditch and lifted the twins out of the water as the mother, scared by human presence, looked on from a rock she had climbed.
Extremely rare for a reason
While the mother and calves are said to be in good health, next few days will be crucial for the survival of the twins.
Mother elephants do not produce enough milk to feed two calves, making their chances of survival less.
Baby elephants depend on their mother for four to six years.
Elephants have a gestation period of 22 months and they usually give birth surrounded by the herd, which was not the case here.
Elephant twins account for less than 1% of births in the wild, making this encounter a rare event.
Forest authorities explained that it is a rare phenomenon for an elephant to deliver calves. They had a record of such a feat in Bandipur Tiger Reserve forests in 1980's.
?A similar case was also reported from the Mudumalai reserve in Tamil Nadu a few years ago.
Another suspected twins in Kerala
There is also a chance that the newborns may not be the only elephant twins that were born recently.
In Kerala's Athirappilly, a mother elephant was recently photographed with two calves, of same age.
The three-member family was spotted together in several places, unaccompanied by the herd, leading to suspicion that the calves could be twins.
However, the Kerala Forest Department has not been able to confirm if the two calves, believed to be around a year old are twins.
There is also a chance that the one of the calves was adopted by a member of the same herd, after its biological mother died, which is a common occurrence among wild elephants.
For more on news,?sports?and current affairs from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.
