世紀之約，一歲小河馬碰到百歲陸龜<轉貼圖文>

好溫馨喔！從佛教的因緣法來看

這二隻動物在過去世應該有很特殊的因緣關係吧 ... 

Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed 

很多生命現象我們目睹它發生的過程，卻無法解釋發生的原因。

NAIROBI (AFP) - 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 

在非洲肯亞的孟巴薩市的野生動物收容所裡，一隻在海嘯中劫後餘生的小河馬，竟然和一隻百歲陸龜產生親密的親子關係。 

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. 

非洲的肯亞在 2004年12月26日發生海嘯的時候 (該次大海嘯有 300,000 人喪生)，有一隻重 300公斤，綽號叫做歐文的小河馬順著薩巴奇河被沖進印度洋，然後又被沖回海岸，才被野生動物管理人員救了回來。 

"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', "After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. 

真是不可思議！一隻不到一歲的河馬會去認一隻已經活了一世紀的陸龜，而這隻雄性的陸龜也似乎很樂意當媽媽。當小河馬被海嘯沖走而失去媽媽的時候，牠的心靈一定遭受很大的創傷，所以牠必須找一個替代品的母親。 

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 followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added. 

很幸運的，小河馬被沖回岸上的時候就碰到陸龜，而產生親密的親子關係。牠們一起游泳，一起吃飯，還一起睡覺，小河馬總是跟在陸龜的後面，就好像跟著媽媽一樣；如果有其他的動物接近陸龜，小河馬還會暴跳如雷，就好像要保護牠的親生母親一樣。 

"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. 

實際上，小河馬還只能算是一個嬰兒，現在卻變成一個孤兒，河馬是一種群居動物，小河馬通常要待在媽媽身邊四年。 

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures. "Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together." 

這是一個真實故事，它告訴我們：當兩個生命個體需要互相慰藉的時候，他們不在乎彼此差別有多大，我們可以從小河馬和陸龜身上學到一個教訓：「不要管你我之間的差異，要設法找到彼此的需要，然後攜手走上同一條路。」