Rare elephant twins born in Kenyan reserve for the first time in more than 15 years

The Samburu National Reserve in Northern Kenya has welcomed a pair of elephant twins in a rare and extraordinary occurrence. Guides from the park's premium eco-camp Elephant Watch Camp (EWC) spotted a rare pair of male and female elephant twins on Sunday, reports PEOPLE. Save The Elephants (STE), released a press statement to announce the arrival of the calves who were about a day old when they were discovered. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of STE said in a statement, "Twins are rarely encountered in elephant populations - and form around only 1% of births. Quite often the mothers don't have enough milk to support two calves."

He continued, "In fact the birth of twins has only ever been recorded once before in Samburu in 2006. Sadly both calves died shortly after birth in Shaba National Reserve."

Bora, a female from the Winds II family, is the twins' mother. STE has been studying and monitoring elephant behavior and mobility in Samburu for 28 years, so they are well acquainted with the family. Bora's twins are her second birth. She also has an older calf, born in 2017, who was observed on Sunday with Bora and the twins.

As part of their daily monitoring, STE experts will monitor the health and progress of these calves. "The next few days will be touch and go for the new twins but we all have our fingers crossed for their survival,” Iain added.

As per a HuffPost report, the quality of food available for the mother elephant to consume, as well as the mother's experience, are both important variables in a pair of twins' possible survival.

African elephants have the longest gestational period of 22 months among mammals. They give birth every four years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has designated African elephants as endangered, with poaching and habitat degradation being the most serious concerns, per HuffPost.

STE, founded in 1993, performs critical elephant behavior and ecology research and pioneered GPS radio monitoring in Africa to bring new insights into elephant life. They collaborate with wildlife agencies, protected area managers, and communities to support their efforts to safeguard elephants from poachers and traffickers. "To monitor and preserve elephants, we create and implement cutting-edge tracking technologies," stated the website. Due to the persistent efforts of STE and other wildlife service organizations, Kenya's elephant population has grown "from 16,000 in 1989 to 34,800 by end of 2019", per Kenya Wildlife Service.