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.

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.

(I think this is one of the cutest, sweetest and most endearing things I’ve come across in quite some time)

UPDATE: 11/28/05 Gratis Networks is now also known as FreePay, I'm thoroughly enjoying my free PSP, and am now dying to get a Free Xbox 360 (especially since they're sold out in stores everywhere - not to mention that I can't afford one).  FreePay is giving away the premimum edition xbox 360 systems (which has backwards compatability for old xbox games) and I'd appreciate if you signed up using my referral link of http://xbox360s.freepay.com/?r=25124160

UPDATE 7/15/05: MY FREE PSP HAS ARRIVED!!!!! 
I will update the post to show pictures of the package, tracking info,
and the beautiful, sweet, free PSP in my hands as soon as I get a
chance.  Now I’m shooting for a Free Nintendo DS, a Free MacMini, a Free Xbox (mine just died ) and an Apple 1GB iPod Shuffle

UPDATE 7/11/05:  My FREE Sony PSP is on the way!  See bottom of
post for details!  Free PSP referral links now point to those of this
blog's readers
–

Everyone who knows me knows I’m a gadget and video game junkie.  And since the release of Sony’s PSP, I’ve been drooling over them.  But with having just bought a house, the budget’s been more than a little bit tight – so all I’ve been able to is watch with envy from a distance as everyone I knew bought their PSPs.

Like you, I’ve seen the ads all over the place for Free PSPs.  And like you, I was pretty darn skeptical.  I mean, come on – how can this not be a scam??

Well, it turns out that most of these promotions are scams.  But one is actually legit!  Yeah, I was shocked when I heard it, too.  But you really can get your own brand spanking new Sony PSP for FREE.

OK - so here’s the scoop.  The only company that’s running a legit deal on this is called Gratis Internet.  There are lots of others out there with their supposed free offers but some quick google searches on those companies (like ExclusiveRewards, MetaReward, IncentiveRewardCenter, etc) as well as a check on Rip-off Report.com quickly show that these are to be avoided.  At the bottom of this post, I will link to several articles from well known sources that confirm the validity of this offer – please remember to come back to my site and use my referral link (http://www.freepsps.com/?r=19020233 )after checking them out.

Now, supposedly this only works using Internet Explorer, but all you have to do is 1) sign up, 2) complete one of 18 offers from such well known companies as Blockbuster, Columbia House, Citibank, Playstation Magazine, Cheap Trips, eFax, etc.  The offers range from free trials to free stuff where you only pay shipping and handling fees, and you’re sure to find one that is of interest to you amongst the offers.  If you have popups turned on, you can see details of what you need to do to complete the offer and how fast your account will be credited with having completed the offer.  Some offers credit your account instantly, others can take a month or so, so read those popup infos.)  3) Next just refer 5 friends (or bloggers) using your referrral code (again, mine is http://www.freepsps.com/?r=19020233).  Once 5 of your referrals have also completed their chosen offer, you’ll be ready for your free psp and you just have to click a link on the ‘Status’ page to start the order process, wherein they’ll review your referrals to make sure they are real and unique individuals, and then they’ll send your free PSP out to you.

So, folks, if this blog has ever brightened your day with some smiles and laughter AND you would enjoy receiving a free psp, then please click my referral link and when you’ve finished the process add a comment to this post and include your referral link.  When I’ve gotten all 5 of my referrals, I’ll swap out the links on this post to use the referral links you’ve provided in the comments (in the order they were received) so that you can quickly get your five referrals, too. 

And if you use my referral link, don’t forget to reply to this post and add your own referral link.  Remember, it only takes 5 legit referrals to get the free PSP so once I have my 5, I won’t need any more referrals and I’ll use YOUR code for all the links instead of mine so you can get your free PSP that much faster.

Now, if only I could afford the pimped out bling bling Russell Simmons gold ‘n diamond-encrusted PSP case (it’s only $35,000) (haha – not).  Give me a break – does anyone other than the folks on MTV cribs even want one of these cases?  Jeez.

Oh yes, and in couse you’re still in doubt that Gratis Networks’offers are for real, check out these articles from Wired News, Engadget.com,  this Video clip about freeiPods.com from NBC, video clip about freeiPods.com from TheScreenSavers on TechTV .  While these articles pertain mostly to the old offer for free ipods, they all prove that the company behind these free offers is for real.