In 1882, a tortoise was taken from the Seychelles and gifted to the governor of the island of St. Helena. He was fully mature at the time, which takes 50 years for his species, the Seychelles giant tortoise or Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa. The tortoise named Jonathan was given a conservative birth date of 1832. In 1886, the photograph above was taken, showing Jonathan on the left. Jonathan is still living on the island of St. Helena, and still getting his picture taken, at the age of 190!
In 2019, Jonathan was given the title of the oldest living land animal. This month, Jonathan was awarded another Guinness World Record as the oldest living chelonian ever. Chelonian is a category that includes turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. Jonathan is thought to be the longest-surviving tortoise ever because it is so unlikely that a tortoise could survive in the wild at 190 years of age.
Jonathan is getting along thanks to caregivers at the governor's plantation in St. Helena. He is blind and has no sense of smell, so he needs to be fed to keep up his health. However, he still mates with other tortoises. That's a good tortoise. -via Digg
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