Pictured: Girl and boy ‘miracle’ twin elephants born in Thailand

An unexpected “miracle” pair of elephant twins have been born in Thailand.

Twin elephant births are rare as it is, accounting for only one per cent of births. But the combination of a male and female is even rarer.

Their mother, Chamchuri, gave birth to the pair at a camp in Thailand’s ancient capital Ayutthaya, a popular tourist destination.

Staff there hadn’t been expecting a second birth after the first. But as they were cleaning up the first calf, they saw a second fall from the mother’s womb, 18 minutes later.

“We heard somebody shout ‘there is another baby being born!’,” said Lardthongtare Meepan, a veterinarian.

However, the joy was followed by horror as the mother became panicked by the second birth and came close to injuring her new daughter.

The elephant keepers, who are called mahouts in Asia, rushed to restrain the mother, with one of them breaking his leg as he stepped in between mother and child.

“The mother attacked the baby because she had never had twins before – it’s very rare,” said Michelle Reedy, the director of the Elephant Stay organisation, which allows visiting tourists to ride, feed and bathe elephants at the camp.

On Friday Buddhist monks blessed the elephants, which are seen as sacred in Thai culture.

Charin Somwang, the mahout whose leg was broken, told the BBC: “I am always happy when I see elephant gives birth.

“It doesn’t need to be twins. Elephant babies always bring joy,” he added.