The Samburu National Reserve in Northern Kenya is celebrating a rarity, a set of male and female elephant twins.

On Sunday, guides from the park's luxury eco-camp Elephant Watch Camp (EWC) discovered the elephant twins. The calves, who have not yet been named, were roughly around a day old when found, according to Save the Elephants (STE), the nonprofit that trains EWC guides to distinguish individual elephants and families in the park.

"Twins are rarely encountered in elephant populations — and form around only 1% of births," STE founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton said in a statement. "Quite often the mothers don't have enough milk to support two calves.

"In fact, the birth of twins has only ever been recorded once before in Samburu in 2006. Sadly both calves died shortly after," Douglas-Hamilton said

"The next few days will be touch and go for the new twins, but we all have our fingers crossed for their survival," he added.

The calves' mother is Bora from the reserve's Winds II family. The twins are her second and third calves after having her first in 2017. Guides also spotted Bora's first calf near the twins on Sunday.

African elephants have the longest gestation period of any mammal. They carry their young for nearly 22 months and give birth around every four years.

The ivory trade and loss of vital habitat have led to elephants being put on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species.

STE researchers will continue to monitor the twins' health as part of their daily routine.
Image courtesy - AFP