Owen the hippo adopts tortoise as mum
By Robyn Dixon
Mombasa
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/ ... 56828.html
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For a baby hippopotamus, lost and far from home, the sight of a wrinkly, rotund old male tortoise appears to have posed the question: are you my mother?
Owen the hippo sought refuge behind the tortoise just after Christmas, and weeks later they are inseparable.
In the wild, hippos are sociable creatures who live in close-knit groups. But this bonding of mammal and reptile has surprised the experts.
The details of Owen's adventure are not entirely clear, but it seems to have begun when a group of hippos was swept into the open sea from the river where they lived.
The hippos made their way back home despite heavy seas caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit the opposite side of the Indian Ocean near Indonesia on December 26. But Owen got separated.
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Hippos often lie around in groups and rest their heads on one another.
Now Owen likes to rest his head on the giant tortoise instead. He licks Mzee, and has been seen to put his mouth gently around the tortoise's head in what Ms Baer said looks like a form of play.
He spends most of the day in the mud pond with the tortoise.
"He walks behind the tortoise. He goes to sleep next to the tortoise," Ms Baer said. "And when you go too close to the tortoise, he chases you away and defends it as his mother," she said.
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Oh! so cute
:razz: :razz: :Jump: :Jump: :Jump:
Another case of the "Love me, that's all i ask of you" syndrome :razz:
