Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe MOMBASA, Kenya, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- An orphaned baby hippopotamus in Kenya has set a precedent by bonding with a 130-year-old giant male tortoise as its mother, the Los Angeles Times reports. Officials at Haller Park outside Mombasa say the little hippo, named Owen, arrived from his rescue in bad shape on Dec. 26, but immediately bolted to nestle with the tortoise named Mzee, or Old Man. Advertisement "We never expected something like this," said Sabine Baer, rehabilitation and ecosystems manager at Lafarge Eco Systems, which runs the wildlife park. "A mammal with a mammal, yes it happens. But reptiles and mammals, we haven't seen this. "He walks behind the tortoise. He goes to sleep next to the tortoise," Baer said. "When he wants to go into the water, he nudges the tortoise ... walks off a little bit and then looks around and comes back to see if the tortoise understands. About a year old, Owen cannot be released to the wild, as males are territorial, and officials fear he would be quickly killed as an intruder. At some point, park staff are planning to separate Owen from Mzee and move him in with a lonely 12-year-old female named Cleo and hope the two will breed. Advertisement
