geogra!

allcreatures:

This photo seems to show that compassion for another might not just be a human emotion, as a hippo tries to save a wildebeest which broke its back while crossing the Masai River in Kenya during the annual migration. Wildlife photographer Mitchell Krog captured a hippo trying to help the wildebeest which became stuck on a submerged rock in the river. He says: “One of the more mature hippo bulls eventually came very close to the wildebeest and tried nudging him a few times to see if he could free the animal from the rocks. This proved useless and eventually this same hippo grabbed the wildebeest on his back using his mouth and dragged it clear of the rocks and into a deeper section of river where he then released it into the river flow. Due to the fact the wildebeest’s back was broken from the fall he could not swim and took his last few breaths and disappeared underwater. It was tough to watch a struggling animal, it always is, but it was consoling to see the animal put to rest humanely by the hippo.”

“Animals show true compassion and help others…even across species barriers

Animals including deer, sheep, mice, rats and chickens, have been observed leading blind companions to food, water and out of danger. This extraordinary behaviour has even been observed crossing the species divide. An African wildebeest, whose eyes were swollen shut by a snake bite, was seen being guided to a waterhole by a small antelope. The antelope would gently guide the wildebeest by nudging his neck.

One member of a group of meerkats was badly injured by a jackal. The other meerkats, even though they were hungry and needed to move on to find food, moved very slowly so wounded one could keep up. The meerkats seemed to comfort the injured one, gently laying their heads on her body in turn, and stayed with her until she succumbed to her injuries.

An injured bird fell into a chimpanzee enclosure at a zoo. Chimpanzees sometimes eat birds, but incredibly the chimpanzees carefully passed the bird among themselves, then gave him to a zoo worker.

A three year old boy fell into a gorilla enclosure at a zoo, hit his head and became unconscious. A young female gorilla, called Binti, walked up to him, picked him up gently, and put him in a place where keepers could easily reach him.

Washoe, a captive chimpanzee who was taught sign language, was expecting a baby, as was her caregiver Kathy. Sadly, Kathy had a miscarriage and was away from work for a few weeks, during which time Washoe lost her baby too. When Kathy returned to work, Washoe, noticing that Kathy was no longer pregnant, signed to Kathy “Where’s baby” and Kathy signed back “Baby died”. Washoe’s response was “Come hug”. ”

- Found on the ACRES website