NAIROBI, Kenya June 7 – An elephant has given birth to twins at the Aberdare National Park, an extremely rare occurrence.
This brings to three the number of known set of twins in the country.
The news was broken by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) which described the occurrence as “extremely rare.”
“Waking up to exciting & great News! An elephant from Aberdare N.Park just gave birth to twins,” KWS tweeted and invited visits to the park.
Another was reported at the Samburu National Reserve in January while another had given birth to twins in 2006 although they died shortly after in what scientists blame on insufficient milk in elephants.
Female elephants are known to give birth every four years, in pregnancies lasting 22 months.
When they give birth, they are often sorrounded by a herd led by older females.
The latest census conducted by the KWS shows that Kenya has 36,280 elephants, a 14 per cent growth from 2014.
