1/14/2005: Tortoise adopts hippo

[Undertoad]

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 Mombasa, 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 tsumani 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 traumatised. 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.

[lookout123]

this is really cool. i'd like to be able to keep track of this situation over the next few years. i wonder if there will come a time when the hippo is actually a danger to the tortoise, though? (just thinking of the elephant who broke it's young one's leg last year or the year before.)

[Beestie]

I don't think that's an adoption.

I think that's like Anna Nicole Smith and that old dude

[LabRat]

Originally Posted by Beestie

I don't think that's an adoption.

I think that's like Anna Nicole Smith and that old dude

BWA HA HA HA!!

[Happy Monkey]

Good luck trying to gold-dig a tortoise!

[dar512]

Depends on whether he had any money invested. That compound interest really adds up after a hundred years.

[capnhowdy]

Don't you just love Cellar Fridays?
This is way cool! Nature is amazingly wonderful at times to be so menacing at other times.Kinda hard to "figger" some times.

PROBLEMS WITH TRYING TO MAINTAIN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A TORTOISE:
They live very sheltered lives.
They have a tendency to withdraw from others.
Generally, they are "a little slow".
Odds are you will expire before they do.
They still demand sex even in their nineties.

[chainsaw]

Too bad their both boys. They could have had a baby. A hippopotortoise. No? K, sorry, it's Friday and I'm bored.

[Nightsong]

Looks like this tortoise Has adopted a Mini-van. THe Turtle is Heathcliffe and uses Maybel, the van, for shade. Unfortunatly Maybel has been haveing bladder trouble which requires Heatcliffe to have oil scrubbed from his shell. But it is so hard to keep them apart.<sigh>

[xoxoxoBruce]

PROBLEMS WITH TRYING TO MAINTAIN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A TORTOISE:
They live very sheltered lives.
They have a tendency to withdraw from others.
Generally, they are "a little slow".
Odds are you will expire before they do.
They still demand sex even in their nineties.

Yes, but they are comfortable with their shells, which is a good lesson.

[poohbearbeth]

This is very cute.....
I guess it's true what they say about opposites attracting

[princess]

Seems like "The Tsuami" is getting the blame/credit for all kinds of things these days, turning the internet into a giant wave of mis-information! The original (true) story appeared on this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa...ya.hippo.reut/

[xoxoxoBruce]

However, Owen's relationship with the Aldabran tortoise named Mzee, Swahili for old man, may end soon. The sanctuary plans to place Owen with Cleo, a lonely female hippo.

Hmm....choices, choices. A 125 year old tortoise or an anatomically compatible, lonely female.
Welcome to the Cellar princess, thanks for the link.