Brian McDonald
Caretakers of 36-year-old elephant Chamchuri knew she was pregnant and were thrilled when she gave birth to a male calf. Then, as they were cleaning up the birth, they heard a loud thud – and were shocked to see that she had given birth to another baby, a woman.
Chamchuri’s second calf was born 18 minutes after the first on June 7, the Associated Press reported, and when she arrived she surprised even her mother. CBS News Partner BBC reported that the second surprise birth caused Chamchuri to panic and that she had to be restrained from stepping on her calf.
MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images
One of the caretakers, 31-year-old Charin Somwang, was injured while trying to control the large elephant. His leg was broken, but he said he “was so happy he couldn’t feel pain.” It was only later in the hospital that he realized the extent of the injury.
“It’s normal for the new mother to always try to kick or push the baby,” he said. “…I was afraid she would break the baby elephant, so I stepped forward and tried to block the smaller elephant’s mother.”
Ian Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Save the Elephants, previously said that twins are “rarely found in elephant populations”. Male-female twins are even rarer.
MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images
“[They] form just around 1% of births,” said Douglas-Hamilton. “Often mothers don’t have enough milk to support two calves.”
The male calf weighed about 300 pounds and his sister is slightly smaller, weighing 300 pounds, and they must use a stool to be able to reach their mother to feed, according to the BBC. The pair will be named after seven days, as is customary in Thailand.
Staff at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal have been posting images and videos of the elephant family every day since the calves were born.
“As soon as we took the second baby elephant away from the mother, the baby stood up. We were all cheering because it’s a miracle,” veterinarian Lardthongtare Meepan told the BBC. “We always wanted to see twin elephants, but not everyone gets to see that because it doesn’t happen very often.”
bol co
jogo de terror online
novela sbt ao vivo
wishlist
musica terra seca
taça png
