The Perfect Tale...

 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 Ind ian 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.








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.'