AN animal farm says it was a "complete surprise" to find one of their alpacas was pregnant with twins but the joy was tinged with sadness at the loss of one youngster. 

Alpaca Acres in Chappel Road, Great Tey, witnessed the extremely rare nature spectacle, when alpaca Helena was found to be pregnant with twins. 

The birth of twin crias, as alpaca babies are called, is extremely rare, with a likelyhood of one set of twins born in every 50,000 births. 

But sadly when Helena gave birth on July 29 in the middle of the night one of the youngsters did not make it. 

Dawn Goulding, 54, owner of Alpaca Acres, said the birth was a huge surprise. 

Survivor - Cria Onyx was born on July 29Survivor - Cria Onyx was born on July 29 (Image: Alpaca Acres)

She said: “It was a complete surprise when we saw it was twins. It is not common with alpacas. Mum did not seem any bigger than normal, so we didn’t expect it.” 

Unfortunately, only Onyx, who was born first, made it, as his sister Pearl sadly died during birth. 

She said: “Onyx was stuck and he needed some intervention. We managed to help him, but we did not expect a second one. 

“After a few minutes, Helena was in a lot of discomfort. I could see Pearl’s fur and her spine. 

“I think what happened was the time it took with the first one to be born, she would have needed to be born quicker.” 

Family - Mother Helena and cria Onyx enjoying the summer sunFamily - Mother Helena and cria Onyx enjoying the summer sun (Image: Alpaca Acres)

After the bittersweet event, mum Helena and young Onyx are doing well, as he is exploring his first time in the outdoors. 

“The little man is doing really well, but he is super tiny.” 

Shortly after the birth of Onyx and Pearl, Aurelia, another mum, gave birth unexpectedly early to little Diamond. 

Fighters - Dam Aurelia with her cria DiamondFighters - Dam Aurelia with her cria Diamond (Image: Alpaca Acres)

Dawn added: “Unfortunately, she is not giving any milk, so Helena is there to help out at the moment. 

“She’s super compromised but fighting and doing really well. 

“It is sad that we lost one of our alpacas, but it is great to see them helping each other with the little ones. But we are holding out hope.” 

Alpaca Acres offers different animal experiences, such as Alpaca yoga and piglet and goat experiences, throughout the year. 

The farm also works with different wellbeing organisations offering exclusive therapy sessions and sessions for individuals and groups can be made online.