It was a rare and risky delivery. A 36-year-old elephant at the Royal Elephant Kraal Village in Ayutthaya province has given birth to twins, and some researchers believe this might be the first recorded instance of elephant twins of different genders.

Birthing twins is so rare among elephants that the event almost turned into a disaster. The mother, named Jamjuree, gave birth to a 176-pound male baby without a problem. But 18 minutes later, when she delivered a 132-pound female, she was so shocked that she went into a frenzy and tried to attack the newborn by kicking it.

“The mother attacked the baby because she had never had twins before – it’s very rare,” said Michelle Reedy, Director of the Elephantstay organization at the Royal Elephant Kraal Village. “The mahouts, who are the caregivers of the elephants, jumped in there trying to get the baby away so that she didn’t kill it,” said Reedy. One mahout suffered a broken ankle during the rescue.

Afterward, Jamjuree regained her calm and now accepts both of her calves. According to Thai customs, the newborns will be given names after seven days.

Elephants give birth to twins about one percent of the time, and male-female twin births are even more unusual. Humans, by comparison, give birth to twins 17 percent of the time. Identical twins are extremely rare among elephants and large animals, as are different-gendered twins. Elephant experts in Thailand said that while there may have been different gendered identical elephant twins in the past, they have no record of any.

The elephant is the national animal of Thailand and adorned the flag of Siam, the Kingdom’s old name, in the mid 18th to early 19th century.

Photo courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/elephantpalaceth