With all of the awful news that came out of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, it is nice to find some that isn’t so bad. When the waves hit Kenya, they surged up the Sabaki River to where a herd of hippopotamus was feeding. The force of the water separated a baby hippo from his mother and swept him down the river and out into the Indian Ocean, then back to shore and onto the beach, where wildlife rangers found him and took him to a local wildlife park.

Traumatized by his ordeal and longing for his mother, the hippo, who has been named Owen, quickly befriended the animal that most closely resembled himself in size, shape and color, a 120 year old Aldaban tortoise named Mzee, which is Swahili for “old man”. Now they are inseparable. They swim, eat and sleep together and Owen follows the tortoise wherever he goes.

Hippos are social animals and young hippos usually stay with their mothers for four years. Owen cannot be returned to the wild where his chances of survival would be very slim. It is hoped that when he is older he will become friendly with Cleo, a female hippo who also lives at the park. But for now he is content to hang out with his surrogate mother.