Pint-sized tussle: The baby elephant twins playing next to their mother at Wingabaw Elephant Camp in Bago region. — AFP
Baby elephant twins born last week on a timber camp in Myanmar are thriving after a wobbly first few days in the world, officials said.
Pearl Sint was born a few minutes before her brother Kyaw Pearl last week at the 24ha Wingabaw Elephant Camp in the Bago region operated by state-run Myanmar Timber Enterprise.
At about 76cm tall, the pint-sized twins were around 10cm shorter than the average calf, said Myo Min Aung, the camp’s assistant manager.
This meant they were not tall enough to reach their mother’s teat and feed.
“We helped them by putting small wooden blocks under their front legs and bringing their heads up to their mother’s breast,” he said on Thursday.
On the third day, they were able to feed themselves and quickly showed their personalities.
“The little male likes to wander around and play with humans rather than stay with his mother,” said Myo Min Aung.
“He is not feeding as much as the female little one does.”
Another official at the camp said he hoped the twins would not take after their father, a bull elephant named Aye Htike.
“He was badly behaved. He used to attack the other elephants and people,” he said.
Pearl Sandar, the twins’ mother, “has a kind heart”, the official said.
“She doesn’t attack others ... we are training the twins to be well-behaved, not like their father.”
The arrival of the twins takes the population of the elephant camp up to nine, the official added.
Previously around 3,000 elephants were used for labour at state timber enterprises in Myanmar, the majority dragging freshly cut trees through the dense jungle to transport hubs and mills.
But now those at the Wingabaw camp, like many others, carry humans instead of logs and earn their keep as a tourist attraction. — AFP
