Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship

The heartwarming true story of the baby hippopotamus and the elderly Aldabra tortoise that became good friends and companions, after the 2004 tsunami killed the hippo's entire pod, is told in Owen & Mzee, an engaging picture-book that is also a father-daughter project, begun when co-author Isabella Hatkoff was six years old. Bringing in Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the ecologist who manages Haller Park, where Owen and Mzee now live, and photographer Peter Greste, the Hatkoffs set out to document an unusual cross-species relationship - it's rare for a mammal and a reptile to form such a close bond - and ended up producing a charming book in the process.

I enjoyed Owen & Mzee when it first came out in 2006, and have noted the subsequent rise of this show more kind of cross-species 'buddy book' - see also: Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends, Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival, and Tiger Pups - so when it was chosen as one of our February selections, over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is "friendship," I was happy to have the chance to reread and review it here. Young readers with a love for animals, or an interest in orphan stories, will enjoy this book, and its story of the unlikely bonds that arise in and after times of crisis. I know I did! show less

I never thought hippos were interesting until I read this book. Having read MAMA by Jeanette Winter and then reading this book I felt like I was left out with a lot of important details. With this book I felt like I was right there with Owen the entire time. I was scared with him, lost, confused, frustrated. To think about a baby being alone, separated from his mother, trapped in nets and surrounded by strangers in an unknown place is horrible. The primary sources (pictures) from this situation added another level of emotions. I felt like the backstory of the tortoise was interesting too, especially how he was so used to be by himself and normally not nice to others. The bond and friendship that was formed between these two is a show more reminder of how even after a lost their is still hope in the most unimaginable places. This was such an amazing story, after reading this to a class I would love to actually visit the sanctuary to see Owen and Mzee. show less

This is the CUTES story! Owen, a baby hippo that was rescued off a reef on the coast of Kenya was taken to an animal shelter and encountered Mzee, an Aldabra tortoise who was 130 years old! They became close friends; snuggling, playing follow the leader, sleeping together, tickling one another. It's a great book for learning about how even in life patterns there are always odd balls out there. That even though hippos are aggressive there are exception to break that pattern. Owen and Mzee's story is one of those exceptions. This book also talks about both these kinds of animals and what their character traits are, it would be fun to read for a class. I would also use it to introduce the idea that it's alright to have a friend that isn't show more the same as you, in fact they can be polar opposite from you. Sometimes the friendships that can't be explained are the best ones. show less

This is a charming true story about the unlikely friendship between an orphaned baby hippo and an old, cantankerous tortoise. When a flood wiped out Owen's herd, he was befriended by Mzee, and the two became inseparable. The full-color photographs are amazing.

It was a balmy post-tsunami day when he was discovered on the coral reefs away from shore. Two feet tall and 600 pounds, he was a meager shadow of his parents and other herd members. But, where was the herd?

He was mad, too. People kept crowding him and throwing nets on his back. He didn’t like these men and he really didn’t like nets. His instinct told him to run, to charge, but a man called Owen Sobien put a stop to all the chaos. In one fluid motion he leapt atop the rounded figure, securing him with a shark net.

Applause erupted as our new friend was ceremoniously named Owen and unceremoniously shoved in the back of a pick-up truck. The ride was dusty and hot in the African sun as they traveled to Mombasa, Kenya where an animal show more sanctuary named Haller Park awaited their arrival. Unfortunately, there was a problem; the existing herd was territorial and extremely aggressive. Owen would surely be killed.

Since he was still a baby, the park managers moved him into an enclosure called a boma. At the time the boma was home to gentler animals such as, “bushbucks, vervet monkeys and a few Aldabra tortoises.”

As they backed the truck into his new home it was becoming dark. Owen struggled to stay in the truck, but the annoying people prevailed. His slightly ungracious exit was followed by a quick bee line to a dark object in the corner of the boma. Within a minute the object moved, so he moved. The object moved again, so he moved again. Everyone smiled and called it a night.

The next morning, park managers were shocked by what they saw. Owen, a mammal, was sleeping next to a cold-blooded reptile. Not just any reptile, but a 130-year-old, grumpy, Aldabra tortoise.

This is the true story of Owen, a baby hippopotamus, and his constant-companion tortoise named Mzee [mm-Zay]. Currently, three books celebrate this extraordinary friendship: Owen & Mzee: Best Friends, Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, and Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship. Each book celebrates their famous kinship, and is perfect for the child ready to transition into chapter books. Elementary teachers might find these books a refreshing approach to units on animals. Coloring sheets and activities can be found online at lafargeecosystems.com. show less

I just love the gorgeous photographs, as well as the simply excellent and informative back material (on Kenya, hippopotami, aldabra tortoises etc.). Actually for me, it is the photographs and the back material that really "make" this story (and it is the main reason I am giving Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship four stars, instead of three stars). Especially the photographs of Owen and Mzee snuggling together, being together, being friends are simply amazing and touching; they tell the story of their developing friendship better and more poignantly than the accompanying narrative. In fact, I find the text, the narrative rather dry and somewhat dragging at times; the words of the narrative alone certainly do not make show more me feel all that emotionally engaged with and close to either Owen or Mzee. The text is very informative, but I feel that it never really goes all that much below the surface, more like a dispassionate newspaper account, or perhaps a school textbook (it is a story about a unique friendship, but the words used to describe that unique friendship just do not make me feel all that emotionally engaged and connected).

I also think that perhaps a bit too much of the narrative focuses on Owen's rescue. I would have liked to have had more descriptions of Owen and Mzee's friendship and some more pictures of Owen and Mzee together; the post-rescue narrative somehow feels a bit rushed. I still strongly recommend this excellent picture book, but without the truly wonderful, amazing photographs, I believe that Owen & Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship would have been a rather dry and at times tedious read. Also, I would tend to recommend this book more for older children, as younger children might find the text-heavy narrative a bit daunting and distracting (I believe that younger children would likely enjoy the photographs, but I do wonder wether their attention span would not be overtaxed by the length and detail of the narrative). show less

How can you not love this story? It is the true account of a baby hippopotamus and a giant tortoise who became friends after a devastating tsunami off the coast of Kenya in 2004. The authors of this book include Dr. Kahumbu, who is director of the sanctuary where the two friends made a home.

After the tsunami in December 2004, a baby hippo was alone and stranded on a coral reef in the Indian Ocean near the small coastal town of Malindi. The hippo was too tired and scared to reach the shore. The villagers wanted to help him, but, although he was a baby, he still weighed 600 pounds and was slippery. Finally he was caught with a shark net and the efforts of a brave man named Owen Sobien, which is how the hippo got the name of Owen. The show more villagers contacted Haller Park, an animal sanctuary some fifty miles away near the city of Mombasa (the second largest city in Kenya), and Dr. Paula Kahumbu offered to come get him. Meanwhile, the sanctuary workers prepared an enclosure for Owen with a pond and mud wallow, an area already occupied by a number of other animals, including Mzee (pronunced mm-ZAY), a 130-year-old Aldabra tortoise.

When Owen arrived, he went directly to Mzee and crouched behind him, just like baby hippos do with their mothers. Mzee tried to get away from Owen, but Owen kept tagging after him. Furthermore, Owen would only eat if he was next to Mzee.

Finally, Mzee began to get friendlier, and the two soon became inseparable. As the authors note, “our most important friends are sometimes those we least expected.”

According to Haller Park staff, Owen began to behave more like a tortoise than a hippo. There was also growing evidence of physical communication between the pair, with Owen nibbling Mzee's back feet to get him to walk in a desired direction. The two even developed a sort of vocal communication of their own, according to Dr. Kahumbu.

At the time this book was published, the two were still together. The same year, however, Dr. Kahumbu decided Owen had grown too large to safely interact with Mzee. (Full-grown adult hippos can weigh as much as 8,000 pounds.) A separate enclosure was built for Owen and a new (female) hippo named Cleo, with whom he bonded quickly. Mzee was also provided with a mate.

The photographs in the book, by Peter Greste, are just wonderful.

The book includes a guide to pronouncing the names in the book.

There is a website for kids that has a video on the story of Owen and Mzee. The Scholastic Press website also has an excellent collection of resources on the pair. show less