It’s a twin! Elephant in Bandipur Tiger Reserve gives birth to two calves
MYSURU, BENGALURU In one of the rarest incidents, the timber department staffers and some excursionists weren’t just substantiation to an giant giving birth, but also to halves at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve two days agone.
The excursionists and staffers spotted a herd of mammoths, including the pregnant lady in labour, floundering to give birth near the old ticket counter.
Unfit to stand any longer, the giant moved into a small water body, just 200 metres down from the event centre, for the safety of her seed and for ease of delivery. Soon, two bitsy tots were out and swimming coming to their mama.
“ As the news spread, excursionists started gathering with mobile phones and cameras to take photos and vids.
The wild cow giant, which was still in postdelivery pain, was petrified to come out of water as a large crowd had gathered.
Everyone could see two small heads floating in water.
Stewing that they would drown as all three weren’t coming out of water, we cleared the crowd and guarded the area.
After a long delay, feeling safe, the mama giant surfaced from the water body and also helped her pins out,” BTR Director Ramesh Kumar told TNIE.
“ Soon after the birth, all the three went back to their herd. We aren’t tracking them as we do n’t want to disturb them and add pressure on the babe,” he said. This is only the alternate similar birth of binary giant pins that they’ve come through, he added.
The first was in 1994. But conservationists suggested that the halves have to be watched nearly.
Their growth, survival and lifecycle patterns should be studied, they said. Elephant expert R Sukumar said similar halves have been seen in only 1 per cent of interned creatures.
But the chance in the wild isn’t known as it’s a rare circumstance. “ I’ve been recording all interned parentage cases since 1926 and have seen just four so far.
The first was on May 21, 1971 in Mudumalai where Devaki gave birth to Vijay and Sujay.
The second was in Bandipur in the 80s when Ashwin and Bharini were born and the third was in Anamalai in Tamil Nadu and the recent was again in Mudumalai.
I had also seen wild halves in 1991 in Mudumalai,” he said. As mammoths have large bodies and long gravidity ages, giving birth to further than one shin is rare. They could be identical, non-identical, of two genders or of the same gender. A detailed study should be conducted to record their survival rate, he said.
