# Baby Hippo takes Tortoise for new mom!



## Beerleader (May 31, 2005)

This is such a sweet story it melts my heart, I figured I'd share. The fourth pic is by far my fav! What a doll  

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 s**** 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.


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## Chazwick (Aug 24, 2005)

That is so beautiful!!! 
I'm so sad the hippos mother died though ....


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## Beerleader (May 31, 2005)

I know its heart wrenching. And reading the story of how he got swept away is so sad too. That poor lil guy! He's the cutest lil thing, and man watching him follow that tortoise is so sweet but so sad. He just wants love that poor baby! I wonder what the tortoise will do when the hippo's really big?


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

The animal kingdom is so amazing


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

Aww, that is so adorable :-D


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## Meeocky (Sep 7, 2005)

heh that's cute


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## Beerleader (May 31, 2005)

Lexus said:


> The animal kingdom is so amazing



I know this kind of examples show they are so capable of being so "human" almost. I mean we adopt children, and it seems so do they.


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## Beerleader (May 31, 2005)

fishfreaks said:


> Aww, that is so adorable :-D



Oh I know isn't it? lol makes me wanna go give em some hugs and squeezes hehe


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

funny you all say that considering a hippo is the last thing I'd want to hug and squeeze  they are, after all, the most dangerous animal in africa.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Beerleader said:


> Oh I know isn't it? lol makes me wanna go give em some hugs and squeezes hehe


So you wanna squeeze one huh? Sure, just come say hello my Grandma, I'm sure she'll be happy to give you a big hug.:lol:


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

Cichlid Man said:


> So you wanna squeeze one huh? Sure, just come say hello my Grandma, I'm sure she'll be happy to give you a big hug.:lol:


Lmao! :lol:


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## Beerleader (May 31, 2005)

Cichlid Man said:


> So you wanna squeeze one huh? Sure, just come say hello my Grandma, I'm sure she'll be happy to give you a big hug.:lol:


LOL good one


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

an alternative to squeezing a hippo is to squeeze the tortoise: at least he wont attack you


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