A few days ago, an Asian elephant in a charity park in Thailand gave birth to twin baby elephants, something rare for this endangered species of mammals.

According to the research organization Save the Elephants, twins are born in only about 1% of pregnancies, and the chance of a female and a male being born is even rarer.

In fact, when 18 minutes after the birth of the first baby – an 80 kg male – a 60 kg female elephant was born, the mother, Jamjuri, suffered a nervous breakdown.

A member of the team at the center where the female elephant lives intervened to stop her from attacking her second calf, but was hit in the ankle in response.

“The mother attacked the newborn because she had never had twins before. It’s very rare,” said Michelle Reedy of the Elephantstay Association, which runs the facility in Ayutthaya, near Bangkok, in central Thailand.

The mother has today accepted her two baby elephants, but they are so small that a platform had to be set up so they could reach her to nurse. They are also given supplemental milk by syringe as female elephants do not usually have enough milk to feed twins

The twins – who were born last Friday, will be given names seven days after their birth, according to tradition in Thailand.

Elephants have the longest gestation period of any mammal, 18 to 22 months, and give birth approximately every four to five years.

Many of the 80 Asian elephants at Elephantstay were formerly used by beggars to beg for alms on the streets, a practice banned in Thailand in 2010.

Today they serve mainly to transport tourists between the temples and ancient ruins in Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam.

Conservation organizations express their opposition to elephant rides, saying they cause great stress to the animals and may involve abusive treatment for their training.

The center says the walks allow the elephants to socialize and exercise, amid poaching and deforestation that threatens their population in the area.

Today, 8,000 to 11,000 Asian elephants — a slightly smaller species than African elephants — remain in the wild, according to the WWF.