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 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.
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 me 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.
謝謝分享！也歡迎來逛我佈落格！
沒有留言:
張貼留言