- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ |
Rare twin elephants take first steps in Myanmar
Baby elephant twins born last week on a timber camp in Myanmar are thriving after a wobbly first few days in the world, officials told AFP on Thursday.
Pearl Sint was born a few minutes before her brother Kyaw Pearl last week at the 60-acre Wingabaw elephant camp in the Bago region operated by state-run Myanmar Timber Enterprise.
At about two feet and six inches tall, the pint-sized twins were around four inches 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 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, who did not want to give his name, 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 said.
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.
Fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild, and fewer than 2,000 of them are found in Myanmar, according 2018 figures from environmental group WWF.
"This is my first time personally experiencing an elephant twin birth," said Myo Min Aung.
"I am happy to take care of the little twin elephants, but it is also a big responsibility."
M.Odermatt--BTB