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.