Rare elephant twins have been born at a wildlife reserve in Kenya, the second set of elephant twin calves born in the country in two years.

The mother, Alto, and her female twins were first spotted by researchers at the Samburu National Reserve this week, the local conservation charity Save the Elephants said.

Elephant twins account for only 1% of elephant births, according to the charity.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, it said: "Hooray! Yet another set of twins (both female) have been born in Samburu National Reserve almost two years after Bora from the Winds gave birth to twins for the first time in decades. Meet Alto’s double joy who were first spotted by our researchers this week.

The African elephant has the largest gestation period of any living mammal - approximately 22 months - and gives birth roughly every four years.​​​​​​​