Tuesday, April 1, 2008

I got nothin'

Incredible photos of a baby hippo that was stranded by the tsunami and the tortoise that adopted him


StumbleUpon Toolbar Stumble It!

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 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 follows 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.

(I think this is one of the cutest, sweetest and most endearing things I’ve come across in quite some time – Emily)

4 comments:

Jamie said...

What an incredible story....

And I think they are both so damned cute.

:)

desert dirt diva said...

man i wish my mortie was that big....i think he is lonely he seems lethargi.....

Anonymous said...

A fascinating story. Reminds me of the old saw about the baby that was so ugly only a mother could love him. Which is uglier - the hippo or mama turtle? Actually, each has a beauty all their own. G5

Smocha said...

I thought that story was incredible.

I have to say ,I think the hippo is a little cuter than the turtle. lol

G5 , that turtle is a male. Makes it evan sweeter that HE adopted the baby hippo. :)