The Hippo and the Turtle

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.
>
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 creatures of God, "Look beyond the differences and find a
> way to walk the path together. "