Sunday, August 1, 2010

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!

This is so true. I was overwhelmed when I saw the photos and read the email today, from my niece. First, I thought that I will just 'forward' it to my friends. But on second thoughts, I wanted to write about the love which is seen in the eyes of the animals in these photos.

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 hippo, nicknamed Owen, weighing about 300 Kgs. was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian ocean, then forced back to the shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan Coast on Dec. 26th, 2004, before the wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A less than a year old hippo has adopted a male tortoise and the tortoise too seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'. After it was swept away 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 bond. They swim, eat and sleep together!", says, Ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of the Lafarge Park.


This looks like 'the mother taking the child to school'!

"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its real mother. If somebody approached the tortoise, the hippo became aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother", she added.


Proud 'mother' with the half asleep baby!

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left alone at a tender age and by nature, the hippos are social animals that like to stay with their moms for 4 years.", Paula says.



The tortoise is lifting himself up to say that he is the 'mother' and bigger! I love this photograph!



'Mother' is sleeping and the baby is peeping to check!




'Mother' and son expressing their love to each other! Lovely picture!



Isn't this 'the best'?!

This is a real story that shows that our differences do not matter much when we need the comfort of another being.
I googled for more news on this 'mother/father and son' duo and have added more pictures of them from this link.


Are the monkeys, son's friends?!




'Mother' and son are sleeping and the friendly deer is keeping an eye on the peeping toms!

The monkeys, the deer...all are friends here, no enemies at all, unlike us, human beings! All of us humans look alike, still the people from one state are not tolerating people from other states of the same country. We can learn some lessons from these creatures of god, who has created us too.


P.S.: This link says that as of 2005, the hippo Owen and Mzee, the tortoise, are still together and the zoo officials are planning to introduce Owen to a 13 year old female hippo, who had been alone for more than 10 years...(the baby hippo is growing up, his 'mother' can be 'prroud' of him! Let me check if he is having a family now!).

No, I couldn't find any latest news about them but we can see a few more pictures of them in this video...enjoy!




Many of you might have seen these pictures, still, enjoy watching them once more!


Edited to add : Happy Friendship Day to all my friends!

25 comments :

R. Ramesh said...

excellent post...:)

SG said...

Beautiful pictures. Very touching "mother-son" story. Made my day.

Happy Friendship Day.

Sandhya said...

Ramesh: Thank you, Ramesh! Happy Friendship Day!


SG: Yes, the pictures are lovely. Thanks for reminding about the Friendship day! Happy Friendship day to you too, SG!

Anonymous said...

Such a heart-warming story, Sandhya! And the pictures are lovely. We can clearly see the bond between the two animals!

We humans can really learn something from these creatures, can't we!

I once read a story about a dog who befriended a newborn human baby which had been abandoned by its mother.-
http://bit.ly/a3JKG6

Happy Friendship day!

Vrinda said...

Firstly, it is very common that we get many forwarded mails like this, but I liked your thought of sharing it with others.

Secondly, I liked the way you linked it with the current situation in India (for eg: Andhra and Maharashtra).

I liked all the snaps and I've even watched the video. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Cheers,
Vrinda.

Saritha said...

Very sweet post sandhya.Very touching post on friendship day.U made a effort to google and get more pictures and the video to share with us,excellent....

Happy friendship day sandhya :)

Bikramjit Singh Mann said...

very sweet .. nature has its own way of making things work even when nature itself destroys everything ..

the pictures are so beautiful thansk for sharing ...

Happy friendship day :)

Sandhya said...

Manju Joglekar: We think that tortoises are stone-like creatures. Here, in some pictures, he shows his love in his eyes, I feel. In one picture, I think he is showing his teeth slightly, like smiling!

Thanks for the link about the dog. She is a better mother than the human mother. It is really unbelievable.

Happy Friendship day, to you too, my dear friend!


Vrinda: Welcome here, Vrinda!

Making a post out of an email is not a good thought, normally! But this one...I was happy to do because of the love which was visible between the animals.

The video also has got some nice pictures apart from the ones which are shown separately. Happy to know that you enjoyed, Vrinda!


Varunavi: I know that you and your daughters will enjoy this post, Saritha!

It would have been nice to complete the post with the news of their current situation, whether he has got a family now, etc.!

Happy Friendship Day, Saritha!


Bikram: 'nature has its own way of making things work even when nature itself destroys everything .. ' you have said it rightly, Bikram.

Happy Friendship Day, Bikram!

Swaram said...

Aww thatz sooo soo sweet and heart-warming Sandhya :) Thanks so much for sharing more photos :)
Sigh! Hw I wish we humans cud take a few leaves out of their books too!

Wishing u a very happy friendship day too :)

Ms.Chitchat said...

A nice post,very aptly posted on Friendship day :)

Gouri Guha said...

Nice post...good thought which it is very much needed...in humans...
:)
good sharing.

Anonymous said...

The tortoise is big, isint it? Do they live for 100 years? Nooru varusham oru tortoise a pole vazhanum ... :)

Destination Infinity

Anonymous said...

Very sweet post :) :) Love spreads across everything :) :)

I am smiling read this post and those pics are awesome :) :)

Sandhya said...

Swaram: Yes, you are right, Swaram! Happy Friendship day to you too!


chitchat: Thank you, Chitchat!


Gouri Guha: Yes, Gouri! Please check the link Manju has given here in this comment section!

Happy Friendship day!


Destination Infinity: Nalla vaazhththu! Thanks! Ungalaiyum naan avvare vaazhththugiren!


Kanaguonline: Love spreads everywhere, if our hearts are good, isn't it, Kanagu? Read Manju's link, you will agree more!

Happy Friendship day!

Anonymous said...

"Mother-son" relationship between Hippo and Tortoise is so sweet.. thanks for sharing it with us and the pics are too good.. Belated happy friendship day to you!! :)

Anonymous said...

the world is still a beautiful place... ! :)

Sandhya said...

evanescentthoughts: Happy Friendship Day to you too, Ashwini!


hitchwriter: Yes, Dhiren! Nice to see you here!

radha said...

Everyone needs a companion, a parent, even it is not one of our own. It's all about caring. Amazing pictures.

Renu said...

Beautiful pictures and the explaination...stories like this are so many but we human never think about them.

Chandrika Shubham said...

Beautiful. :)
I liked this post very much.
Thanks for sharing. :)

Happy Friendship Day! :)

sharada.econtent said...

cute pics... i think we have to learn a lot from these animals..

Sandhya said...

Radha: Yes, we need someone/something to lean on...here they didn't bother to check if the other person is from their own clan!


Renu: Yes, Renu!


Chandrika Shubham: Thank you and Happy Friendship Day to you too, Shubham!


Sharu: Yes, Sharada, we have to learn a LOT from them!

Anonymous said...

That was so so sweet, Sandhya! Loved reading and watching. So very touching!

www.thelongroad.in said...

Touched! day before only the News of Charlie Hebdo attacks were all over the place. We are killing for being different from each other, and look at these! what a shame we humans are !

Sandhya said...

WORDSNDREAMZ: I saw your comment now, Smitha! Good to know that you enjoyed the pictures!


THELONGROAD.IN: They are not animals. We are worse than animals. Thanks for the comment, Jyoti!

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