Rare Elephant Twins Born At South African Game Reserve

Last month an elephant in South Africa named Curve and aged 31 delivered a set of twins at the Pongola Game Reserve. The birth left conservationists and experts amazed because they say elephant twins are an incredibly rare occurrence. Scientists at the Kruger National Park say that twins occur in less than 1 per cent of elephant births.

The twins gender has yet to be determined

Whilst twin elephant births are indeed rare, typically one of the twins will fail to survive into adulthood. This means conservationists at Pongola are keeping a constant watch on Curve and her cute little offspring to see how they are doing. The experts are making sure Curve has her space though, because they want to ensure there is no unnecessary stress on the animals and as a result, they have been unable to determine the sex of the twins.

“This is the best approach, mortality of one of the twins usually occurs as the increasing demand for milk by two calves cannot be met by the mother, and the less dominant of the two calves usually cannot gain access to its share.” Dr. Ian Whyte said in a news release.

Some twins do survive

However Dr. White went on to add that in Kruger National Park, there was a famous matriarch named MaMerle who delivered a set of twins back in 2002, both of which managed to survive into adulthood. Even more amazing is the fact that the same elephant delivered a second set of twins just four years later, with both twins surviving for more than a year. Twins also face threats from predators such as hyenas and lions.

Curve gets her name from the shape of her tusks

Curve gets her name because of the curved shape of her tusks and has delivered three other baby elephants in the past, all of whom were male. The twins father however is believed to be a 44 year old bull that passed away in 2013. Elephants have a gestation period that last for 22 months so it is quite feasible that this was the case in the event you were wondering.

Pongola has never lost an animal to poachers

Pongola Game Reserve is located in northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. Whilst elephant poaching is a rampant problem across Sub Saharan Africa, Pongola is heavily guarded and regularly patrolled and according to the reserve’s marketing manager Donoven Gloy, the reserve has an admirable record of never having lost an animal to poachers.