Family

 

BBC World Service - Witness History, The hippo and the tortoise

What do you see in the picture, what do you think this story is about?

In 2004 in Kenya, a tortoise called Mezea was brought in to a wildlife sanctuary. He was old, very big and had a big crack on his back so he looked different. No one wanted him as  a pet.

Why do you think no-one wanted Mezea as a pet?
How do you think Mezea felt?

Mezea became quite popular in the sanctuary. Although he was very slow, he walked around and enjoyed people patting his shell. 

In December 2004 a 2 month old baby hippo was found and people realised he was orphaned and alone. The hippo was rescued and brought to the sanctuary. The hippo was named Owen. 

How do you think Owen felt when he arrived at the sanctuary?
What did Owen need?

When Owen arrived at the sanctuary he was terrified.
Owen ran in and the first animal he found was Mezea the tortoise. 

At first, Mexea was trying to get away from Owen, but Owen kept following him. Because Mezea was so slow, Owen had no problem keeping up.

Why do you think Mezea was trying to get away at first?
Why didn't Owen give up?
What do you think happened?

In the morning the sanctuary staff went to check on the animals and they found Mezea asleep with Owen lying next to him, his head resting on one of Mezea's legs. 

They took a photo and you can see it at the top of this page.

They sent the photo to a newspaper and within hours the photo went viral. Everyone loved it.

Why do you think the photo was so popular?

After several weeks Mezea was behaving as though he had adopted Owen. They went everywhere together and Mezea even started feeding Mezea.

How do you think both the animals felt about each other?
Mezea is a reptile and Owen is a hippo, is this a family?
What do you think is the most important thing about a family?

Why is this about No Outsiders?
Which British value is this about?

To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every Friday, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org

No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat  (scheme of work for primary schools) 






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