Thursday, August 30, 2007

Hippopotamus and the Tortoise

This story below was a publicly posted article that was sent to me by my friend Andi...I thought it was a nice post for a Friday.

Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed...
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."
Happy Friday!
-Rick Rockhill

16 comments:

Lola Starr said...

That is so sweet! :) I saw a video somewhere about a hippo that "adopted" a human family. It was so cool.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I remember seeing this elsewhere awhile back, but thanks for putting it here. I've had a tough week at work and this gave me a big smile!

TWISI said...

That is the sweetest thing! Thanks for sharing it!

lime said...

wow, that's really something. crazy how things happen sometimes isn't it?

Burfica said...

I love that story. It's been in the Ranger Rick magazine too. hehehehehe

Tea said...

This is so precious Rick!!
And I saw that movie with Joan Crawford. She was quite an interesting woman, nasty and horrible at times if you go by Mommy Dearest though.

tea
xo

SIMON said...

Hard to imagine that hippos kill more humans than any other animl in Africa isn't it?

Desert Songbird said...

This is one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time. I'm glad this didn't involve humans - it makes the story more "credible." (Does that sound right? Do you catch my meaning here? Gawd, I sound like an idiot some days...)

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

A Lewis said...

A match made in heaven. What cuties.

Canadian flake said...

awwww they look so cute together. It is such an odd combination but they are so adorable. Thanks for sharing.

Stephen R. said...

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Now THAT is a wonderful quote. Great story! Cute mother and son!

Sheila said...

Thanks, Rick. Real sweet.

captain corky said...

Great post Rick!

Unknown said...

Simply stated, "That is PRECIOUS!"

Great article!

~smile~

Barb said...

Looks like me and hubby. :)

RobOrange said...

I caught a segment of this on the Today Show one morning awhile back.
Very sweet and I was weeping by the end of it.

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