'Rare' birth of live reindeer twins in Cairngorms Published duration 22 May 2018

image copyright The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd image caption Reindeer Lulu and her twins

Britain's only free-roaming herd of reindeer has seen the birth of its first live twins.

Previously, twins in The Cairngorms Reindeer Herd have been stillborn or died shortly after birth.

The owners of the herd said live twins were "extremely rare" and they remained hopeful, but realistic, about the calves' chances of survival.

They said there was only one other known case of live twins being born, which was in Finland in 2010.

The herd has been in the Cairngorms, near Aviemore, since 1952.

The twins' mother is one of the older females, 12-year-old Lulu.

The calves are being "topped up" with bottled milk as Lulu does not have enough of her own for both of them.