"Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed" - Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
NAIROBI ( AFP ) - A baby
hippopotamus that survived the
tsunami waves on the Kenyan
coast has formed a strong
bond with a giant male
century-old tortoise in an animal
facility in the port
city of Mombassa , officials said
The hippopotamus,
nicknamed Owen and
weighing about
300 kilograms (650
pounds), was swept down Sabaki
River into the Indian
Ocean , then forced back to shore
when tsunami waves struck the
Kenyan coast on
December 26, before
wildlife rangers rescued him..
"It is incredible.
A less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a
male tortoise, about a
century old, and the tortoise seems to
be very happy with being a
'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu,
who is in charge of
Lafarge Park , told AFP.
"After it was
swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was
traumatized.
It had to look for something
to be a surrogate mother
Fortunately , it landed on the
tortoise and established a strong bond.
They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist
added.
"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it
followed its mother.
If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes
aggressive,
as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu
added.
"The hippo is a
young baby, he was left at a very tender age and
by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with
their
mothers for four years," he explained.
"Life is not
measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away."
This is a real story
that shows that our differences don't matter
much when we need the comfort of another.
We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures
"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the
path together."
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