A baby hippo found desperately nudging its dead mother at a lake in Kenya over the weekend is now being hand-reared at a wildlife sanctuary after being rescued.
The calf, which has been named Bumpy, was “just days old” when it became orphaned, according to Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a charity whose keepers are now taking care of it.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which rescued the calf and handed it over to the wildlife charity for specialised care, said the mother may have died from natural causes.
Sheldrick said it was possible that the hippo’s mother died in a “territorial fight… protecting her calf, as infanticide is common in hippo society”.