It’s official: Jonathan is the oldest tortoise on the planet. Jonathan, who is now the world’s oldest living animal, will celebrate his 190th birthday in 2022, making him the oldest tortoise ever recorded, according to Guinness World Records. Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), succeeds Tu’i Malila, a radiated tortoise who passed away in 1965 at the age of 188. His official record title is oldest chelonian, which covers all turtles, terrapins, and tortoises in the order of shelled reptiles.
In a statement, his vet Joe Hollins stated, “He is a local icon, representing endurance in the face of change.” No one knows exactly how old he is. After all, birth certificates for tortoises were frowned upon by Victorian bureaucrats. He is, nevertheless, older than previously assumed. Jonathan thought to have been born in the year 1832. This is based on an ancient photograph taken in 1882 when he arrived from the Seychelles at Saint Helena, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. Jonathan appears fully develop in the shot, indicating that he is at least 50 years old and was born around 1832.
Jonathan is still plodding around the grounds of Plantation House, the Governor of Saint Helena’s mansion, where he is spending his golden years with three other giant tortoises named David, Emma, and Fred. Let us pause for a moment to consider Jonathan’s age. When the first photograph of a person was taken in 1838, he was a juvenile whippersnapper, and when the first telephone conversation was made in 1876, he was a huge adult. He was born before Queen Victoria seized the British throne and lived through 39 US presidents.
In fact, Jonathan came within a whisker of seeing Napoleon, who was exiled to Saint Helena after losing the Battle of Waterloo to the British in 1815. Napoleon was imprisoned on the island until 1821, only 11 years before Jonathan’s birth and 61 years before he landed at Saint Helena. Jonathan has had a comfortable existence as governor of the tropical island (he has seen 31 governors come and go), but it appears that the icon is beginning to show his age. He is now blind and has lost his sense of smell, so Hollins must feed him by hand every week, despite his great hearing. Despite his age, the tortoise retains his vigor.
“Despite his advanced age, Jonathan still has a strong libido and is usually observed mating with Emma and even Fred,” Hollins reported. “He enjoys bananas, but they seem to clog his mouth; lettuce hearts, though not particularly nutritious, are a favorite.” Jonathan, enjoy your retirement; you have worked hard for it.
