The two were also photographed Monday feeding on the same cow (AFP)
Colombo:
A pair of baby elephants feeding on the same mother have been spotted in a Sri Lankan national park, and authorities speculate on Wednesday that the two may be a rare set of twins.
The young defenders – who rangers say are three to four weeks old – have been spotted in the Minneriya sanctuary about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Colombo, grazing with a herd of a dozen elephants.
After observing the couple from a distance, the officials are confident enough to “say they are twins,” said Tharaka Prasad, director general of the department of wildlife conservation.
The two were also photographed on Monday feeding on the same cow by famed environmentalist Sumith Pilapitiy, who also told AFP that he believed the two were twins.
The Rangers were conducting DNA tests on the herd’s excrement to confirm, said Prasad.
If the results were consistent, it would be the first time that wildlife officials from the Indian Ocean island have seen twins alongside their mothers, he added.
The sighting was near the area where seven elephants died of poisoning in September, in an act blamed on local farmers.
Nearly 200 elephants are killed each year on the island, many of them by farmers after the pachyderms have lost their way on their land.
Marauding elephants kill an average of 50 people a year, mainly when they wander into villages close to their habitat.
The country’s elephant population fell to just over 7,000 according to the last census, compared to around 12,000 in the early 1900s.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
