'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
of God,'Look beyond the differences and find a way to
walk the path together.'
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