The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise

Thanks to Casper Kelley for this poignant and heart warming story.

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The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise ' 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 strongbond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animalfacility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down SabakiRiver into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shorewhen tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast onDecember 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him. 'It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted amale tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems tobe 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 andby nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with theirmothers 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 that our differences don't mattermuch 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.'