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WATCH: Rare reindeer twins, born just in time for the holidays, beat the odds
Updated: 8:20 PM EST Nov 25, 2021
Meet Spicy and Spike, twin reindeer who made their miraculous arrival just in time for the holidays.It’s rare for reindeer to survive when they’re born together, but at six months old, the pair are thriving at a reindeer farm in Anchorage, Alaska.Lauren Waite of Williams Reindeer Farm told KTUU about the day Spicy and Spike were born.”One of the staff had reported to me that there’s a cow in labor, and she’d been in labor for like 20 minutes,” she said. “And I was like, it’s okay. Labor, you know, usually takes longer than that, but let’s go out and check on her. So I went out, and we watched the birth.”Waite said the twins’ mom, Sugar Mama, was tame throughout labor and allowed spectators to be next to her. “And as soon as the first one come out, I saw that there were two more feet hanging out of her bottom,” Waite said. “And I panicked because I was like, ‘Oh no, this means twins.’ And for us, historically, twins have not always survived.”Waite said she doesn’t know any other reindeer farmers who had twins survive.”So it’s really not common, and in 30 years of only reindeer, we have had twins and not one of them has survived, you know, beyond 24 hours,” Waite said. “So this was really exciting for us because it is so rare.”Spike and Spicy were separated for a bit when they were about 12 hours old, but have been together ever since. “They’re in the same pen now, and they find each other often,” Waite said. “Like they eat the same hay bale, and they lay together, and I think it’s that twin telepathy, you know. They like to seek each other out even after being separated for months to reunite them and have them be best friends is really cute.”
Meet Spicy and Spike, twin reindeer who made their miraculous arrival just in time for the holidays.
It’s rare for reindeer to survive when they’re born together, but at six months old, the pair are thriving at a reindeer farm in Anchorage, Alaska.
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Lauren Waite of Williams Reindeer Farm told KTUU about the day Spicy and Spike were born.
“One of the staff had reported to me that there’s a cow in labor, and she’d been in labor for like 20 minutes,” she said. “And I was like, it’s okay. Labor, you know, usually takes longer than that, but let’s go out and check on her. So I went out, and we watched the birth.”
Waite said the twins’ mom, Sugar Mama, was tame throughout labor and allowed spectators to be next to her.
“And as soon as the first one come out, I saw that there were two more feet hanging out of her bottom,” Waite said. “And I panicked because I was like, ‘Oh no, this means twins.’ And for us, historically, twins have not always survived.”
Waite said she doesn’t know any other reindeer farmers who had twins survive.
“So it’s really not common, and in 30 years of only reindeer, we have had twins and not one of them has survived, you know, beyond 24 hours,” Waite said. “So this was really exciting for us because it is so rare.”
Spike and Spicy were separated for a bit when they were about 12 hours old, but have been together ever since.
“They’re in the same pen now, and they find each other often,” Waite said. “Like they eat the same hay bale, and they lay together, and I think it’s that twin telepathy, you know. They like to seek each other out even after being separated for months to reunite them and have them be best friends is really cute.”
