Just came back from Chiangmai, one week earlier as I fractured my left wrist. One of our elephants recently had twins at our Macham Sanctuary about 6 hours by van in the North. They are a beautiful pair of females.
In Karen Mahout culture, baby elephants are not named till they are about 6 months old (when they are more or less expected to survive). They are then given unattractive and bland nicknames. The Karen believe that nice and beautiful names could attract the attention of evil spirits and they might take the elephant souls.
Many young elephants who die expectedly are deemed by the Mahouts to have their souls taken by a wondering spirit.
When the elephant reaches the age of one then he or she will be given a proper name which will go into it’s birth registration card. Here’s a picture of the adorable twins.
