Jumbo delivers twins in Bandipur forests

By NT Correspondent

Mysuru: In a rare case, a female elephant has given birth to twins in Bandipur National Park in Gundlupet taluk of Mysuru district.

Normally, elephants give birth to one calf. The ‘twin joy’ came to light when tourists and forest department staff at the ticket counter for the safari, saw the elephant giving birth to not one but two calves. Both calves and their mother are doing well. The natural delivery of the calves has been recorded by tourists and forest department staff too.

According to a senior forest officer, within a few minutes of the birth, the two calves and mother returned to the wild to join their herd and were allowed to do so a s they would be able to roam freely inside the forest. Environmentalists have advised the forest department to focus on the health of the calves as well as their growth.

According to experts, “ hardly one per cent of elephants give birth to twins in protected areas. Since 1926, only four female elephants have delivered twins in protected forests in the country. The first was on May 21, 1971 in Madumalai when an elephant, Devaki gave birth to twins, Vijay and Sujay. The second was in Bandipur when an elephant gave birth to twins Ashwini and Bharani. The fourth incident was in Anamalai in Tamil Nadu and the fourth case in Madumalai in 1991. Since the gestation period of elephant is very long due to the size of its body, it is rarely that they deliver more than one calf at a time. A detailed study is required to record the survival rate of the twins”.