Saturday, October 21, 2006

Hippo and the tortoise

I recieved this from my sister-in-law.............Life is truly amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Baby Hippo "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 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 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 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 an d 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 that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two,
"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together".


.............PEACE.................Scott

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Scott, I had seen that story about the baby hippo and the tortoise. It made me think about attachment theory--the kinds of connections that get made between babies and those who care for them. Attachment to others is so critical for the healthy development of human beings that it is no wonder that it is also an important aspect of the development of other species. My hope from this story is that it helps us remember to be kind and emotionally available to children and grandchildren. Our loving connections with them, even if they don't sufficiently appreciate our "advice," will help them and the world along its way.

Thanks for sending it, Anne