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:

I was about to mention the pathetically cute kittens. :razz:

Where do you get these articles from Archy? They are making me ill.

Actually, it is kinda cute, such a kodak moment.

I'm going to have to find the old highschool newspaper clipping I have of seven of us Making Way for the Ducklings to add more syrup to the cooler forum. Haha, we found these ducks that couldn't cross the highway, and one girl stopped traffic while we helped them cross. Coincidentally the amongst the cars she stopped was a local newspaper photographer and he quickly got out of his car and took pictures of these 15-17 year old girls walking and petting several ducks as they waddled across the street to the pond.

All together now, "AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW How CUUUUUUUUUUUTE!"

BTW, that is either a HUGE tortoise or a very small hippo, either way I would probably love to see it clinging to its new mommy.

inter species union ... i do not approve.

Off with their heads.

**looks at hippo**


cuuute.

bABA, I have changed my mind. I no longer want a pet Cappybara, I want a pet baby hippo. Get one for me for my birthday, thanks.

no problems

in other news:



Aint that cute. If theres one pet i ever want, its a cheetah.

A cheetah huh? That is soooooo south asian. \:D/


I've kinda always wanted a peacock



or one of the Budweiser Clydsdales

Sounds like a plot to some kids movie.

Upon telling my mom this story:
"Aww so cute!"

thats cute.

The Budweiser Clydesdales however are not. Thats just cruel.

I've seen a few peacocks in my life. Quite cool. This guy had 2 of them on my way to school. They were always on his balcony and we'd always spot them at 7 in the morning.

We've got wild peacocks here. You see em running all around. Especially at Busch Gardens. Granted, its a nature park, but still.

Wierd things. Not too friendly.

Why is noone talking about how blind the damn Hippo has to be ...

Come on .... he think the tourtis is his mom? Not likely.

In reality he was probably alone, and bored ... decided to follow around the tourtis (think donkey in shrek) and now he wont leave him alone. Pretending to enguf his head in his mouth doesnt sound like fun to me ... it sounds like he is molesting him. This is the Micheal Jackson of Hippo's

2 bucks say Eagle's tipsy.