5 months ago
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Mother, Chamchuri, stand with newborn elephant twins female, left, and male, right, in Ayutthaya province, Thailand, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP)
NEW DELHI: Buddhist
monks
in
Thailand
blessed twin baby
elephants
, a male and a female, on Friday, a week after their rare
birth
nearly ended in tragedy.
Chamchuri, their mother, gave birth to the
twins
on the night of June 7 at a camp in Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient capital and a popular tourist destination 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Bangkok.
Twin elephant births are uncommon, and male-female twins are even rarer. The Ayutthaya Elephant Palace & Royal Kraal, where the newborns reside, announced it was the first such birth in the province. A statement from the Thai government added that this was only the third occurrence of male-female twin elephants in the world.
These twins are the fourth and fifth offspring of the 30-year-old mother elephant.
Caretakers at the camp expected to deliver a single baby, but were stunned when a second calf was born 18 minutes after the first. The elephant caretakers, known as mahouts in Asia, had to swiftly intervene to prevent the startled mother from unintentionally harming her new daughter.
Charin Somwang, one of the mahouts, broke his leg while stepping between the mother and her offspring to avert the potential danger. He explained to Thailand's Daily News newspaper that it is typical for a mother elephant to step on and gently prod her newborn to check its vitality. However, the second baby, the female, seemed too weak to withstand this treatment.
Elephants hold significant cultural importance in Thailand and have been officially declared a national symbol. Historically, Thai kings rode elephants into battle, and a white elephant, revered as a sacred symbol of royal power, adorned the Thai flag until 1917.
(With inputs from agencies)
