Stray hippo finds unlikely new mother
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:34 pm
A 120-year-old giant tortoise living in a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary has become inseparable from a baby hippo.
Owen, the one-year-old hippo calf, was rescued by game wardens last month.
He was suffering from dehydration and had been separated from his herd in a river that drains into the Indian Ocean.
"When we released Owen into the enclosure, he lumbered to the tortoise which has a dark grey colour similar to grown up hippos," Sabine Baer, rehabilitation and ecosystems manager at the park, said.
She says the hippo's chances of survival in another herd are very slim.
Story here
Owen, the one-year-old hippo calf, was rescued by game wardens last month.
He was suffering from dehydration and had been separated from his herd in a river that drains into the Indian Ocean.
"When we released Owen into the enclosure, he lumbered to the tortoise which has a dark grey colour similar to grown up hippos," Sabine Baer, rehabilitation and ecosystems manager at the park, said.
She says the hippo's chances of survival in another herd are very slim.
Story here