‘Double the joy’ rare baby elephant twins, spotted in Sri Lanka

Viral pictures of possible rare baby elephant twins spotted by Sri Lanka rangers have left everyone spellbound

 

Two baby elephants feeding on the same mother were spotted by Sri Lanka Rangers. The pair is guessed to be a rare set of twins. An official at a Sri Lankan National Park made the speculation on Wednesday.

About 200km (125 miles) north-east of Colombo there lies the Minneriya Sanctuary where these young calves were spotted along with their mother. A herd of about 12elephants was also grazing with them. As per the rangers’ estimation, the baby elephants are 3-4 weeks old.

Tharaka Prasad, Director-General of Department of Wildlife Conservation told AFP that the officials spotted these young calves from a distance. He further added that they are pretty much sure to ‘say they are twins’.

Smith Pilapitiy, a renowned conservationist, captured the flattering images of the twin elephants feeding on the same mother. Furthermore, he also believes that young tuskers are twins.

 

 

This image was clicked back in March 2019

Prasad informed that DNA tests were being carried out by the rangers on the herd’s dung to validate the speculation. He further added that matching of the results will mark that this would be the first time that twin elephants along with their mother were sighted by the wildlife officials on the island.

While sharing the image of the elephants along with their mother, Susanta Nanda, IFS Officer, wrote, “Double the joy. A pair of baby elephants feeding on the same mother has been spotted in a Sri Lanka which could be a rare set of twins….”

Netizens went gaga over the picture. One of them expressed that the picture is lovely while another mentioned that it was so cute.

Many research papers have reviled that there are less than one per cent chance elephants give birth to twin calves. Moreover, it is even less likely that both young elephants survive into adulthood.

Keeping all this in mind, the authorities are taking all the precautions to ensure the safety of the mother elephant along with her young tuskers.