NY Now Home to Extraordinarily Rare Elephant Twins

Elephants are some of the worlds most magnificent creatures. Not only are they massive in size and power, but they have been shown to be incredibly smart and aware. It has been shown that in the case of elephants, the majority of their behaviors are learned behaviors as opposed to being instinctive. Numerous different types of elephants have existed throughout history, however the main two species that exist today are the African Elephant and Asian Elephant.

We are however focusing on the Asian Elephant today and an incredibly rare event that occured recently in a Syracuse Zoo.

Incredibly Unlikely Twins

The end of October marked a historic week for the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. The Zoo welcomed the arrival of a brand new baby elephant, however that was not the entire surprise, as hours after baby number 1 was born, baby number 2 arrived. The event in of itself was an astronomically massive improbability.

To put in perspective just how rare this event was, The Zoo gave some statistical data in their press release...

Less than 1% of elephant births worldwide are twins...To date, there has never been a recorded case of surviving elephant twins in the United States.

It was also stated that this was the first documented occasion where elephant twins were successfully born outside of their native African and Asian homelands. In addition, in the cases of elephant twins, many times one will not survive or face some time of aliment, which isn't hard to believe when you consider that on average, elephant gestation period is about 22 months. 

First Few Weeks of Life

For starters, lets just state how big these baby's are. Baby Boy Number 1 weighed in at a stunning 220 pounds. Meanwhile, Little Brother isn't so little as he weighed in at 237 pounds. Those are two babies that are bigger then I've ever been in my entire life. The Rosamond Gifford Zoo's animal care team since the birth of the twins has been attending to them 24/7, around the clock and both babies are considered healthy.

Over the weekend the "miracle" babies made their debut at the zoo as zoo goers can now see the massive bundles of joy at select times during the day.

Truly A Great Day

Clearly this event was, to say the least, a historic day for the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. In reality this was also a historic day for the Asian Elephant as a species. The Asian Elephant is currently listed on the endangered species list, which makes the arrival of twins all the more exciting. In addition, when you consider that as previously mentioned, elephants have a near two year gestation period and that after giving birth, elephants will not reproduce again for 3-8 years, it puts in perspective at how much time is needed to try and grow the species.

Elephants are incredibly important creatures, especially in the wild where they play a massive role in maintaining environments, so even though these babies are far from there natural home, it still can't be overlooked how amazing this is. Amazing job Mama Mali for your two healthy babies.