![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mblaTsunami Survivors
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.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 09:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 10:23 am (UTC)А львихам, например, как тяжело - и еду льву добывай, и ублажай его, а он при случае как рявкнет: "Пошла вон, блядь, спать не мешай".
no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 10:33 am (UTC)Про львов я как-то наблюдал очень смешную сцену: лежит стайка львиц, человек пять, и к ним приближается джип с туристами. Ну, туристы давай фотографировать, а львицам, такое впечатление, это нравится: то так повернутся, то эдак. И тут неторопливо появляется лев: он рыкает сначала на всех своих дам, а потом - подходя к каждой по очереди, лично и не без суровости что-то объясняет. После этого - уходит в лесок, а львицы - гуськом за ним, покорно-обречённо. Вот тут-то зрители и расшифровали львиное рыкание как "Чего, дуры, развалились! Топмодели, блин, нашлись. Их, понимаешь, козлы эти фотографируют, а они и рады. А ну, домой пошли (посуда не вымыта, дети не уложены и т.д.)"
no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-04 09:13 pm (UTC)