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 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.
http://www.digyourowngrave.com/tortoise-adopts-baby-hippo/
