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From - where else - Daily Mail.
'Hi there chap, I'm your new mum': How the pygmy elephant who broke hearts when its mother was poisoned is having fun again
Free as a bird! Kapotwe the Shoebill appears to smile as she is released into the wild after being rescued from poachers
'Hi there chap, I'm your new mum': How the pygmy elephant who broke hearts when its mother was poisoned is having fun again
more, with the pics, at the links---
Then baby Joe was introduced to Augustin David. Now, in a remarkable bond between man and beast, the keeper has become Joes surrogate mum.
Like any parent, Augustin faces a gruelling schedule that requires feeding Joe every two hours, all through the night, with a particular mix of formula milk that the infant has a taste for.
Playtime involves him running Joe around the compound at Lok Kawi zoo near Kota Kinabalu, which the little elephant loves; and persuading him to keep still for bathtime, which he loathes.
He has clear likes and dislikes, Augustin said. He loves suckling peoples thumbs - just like a human baby, it calms him.'
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Free as a bird! Kapotwe the Shoebill appears to smile as she is released into the wild after being rescued from poachers
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Kapotwe had other ideas, however. The cheeky bird had never learned to behave like a shoebill, and so had no idea how to catch fish and avoid threats. In fact, says Morgan Trimble, the photographer who captured the amazing pictures of her eventual release into the wild, she was more like a naughty puppy.
'I was asked to photograph her not long after she had been rescued.
'She is naturally very curious about anything that is new and the way she explores things is to gnaw at it with her beak.
'Every morning she woke us with her roosters call, then would spend her day investigating the comings and goings on the path to the village, getting into trouble with fishermen for stealing a few fish from their nets, and mingling with other birds and animals in the area.'
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