A pair of grey seal twin pups born in Norfolk, England may just be the first ever of their kind ever recorded in the history of seal pups.
Given the names C-3PO and R2-D2 just like the names of the two most popular droids in the Star Wars science fiction movies made popular in the 80’s, the two seal pups were discovered about an hour after their birth in November of last year.
They were discovered so quickly after the birth in fact that the photographer who discovered them says the ground was still bloody with the remnants from the birth.
The mother cow reportedly tried to separate the two animals from one another, and attempted to shun one of them. Fortunately, with time, the animal slowly gained its mother’s love and the mother started to take care of both.
It’s unusual for two twin seal pups to survive after birth, but not only did these twins have the record-breaking quality of being the only known twin grey seals ever born, but they both are in great health and are expected to survive, which is unusual and quite an amazing feat by nature.
"I have never experienced it myself, and my British colleagues who do a lot of fieldwork have never observed it.” Anne Kirstine Frie of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway said in a statement. “It must happen in the wild from time to time, but we have never had knowledge of wild grey seal twins. In the wild they very rarely survive, the both of them, but these are both in good health."
After two weeks of maternal care, the mother finally abandoned the animals and let them fend for themselves in the wild, and they’ve since been relocated to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) by experts in the field. There, their health has been checked up on and experts will ensure the animals are ready to be released into the wild.
Both animals are expected to carry on long and fulfilling lives in the wild, despite their rarity.
Source: BBC