The oldest tortoise in the world. Life story

The oldest tortoise in the world lived in Australia. Why did she live? She died not so long ago. Everything comes to an end once. In this article we will tell you about the life of this famous tortoise, and also about its possible "successor". The world should know its heroes, as they say, in person!

Contemporary Charles Darwin

Once in the Australian zoo lived a real contemporary of the famous naturalist named Charles Darwin, who is known for discovering the theory of human evolution . The oldest tortoise in the world , nicknamed Harriet, was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as a creature who lived in captivity for 175 years! Just think: in captivity! It's hard to imagine how many owners have changed, the very first of which was none other than the founder of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin!

Life story...

Birthday

October 11, 2005, this giant elephant, as well as the world's oldest tortoise, celebrated its 175th anniversary birthday. Harriet was born in the time of Queen Victoria, when she was still a child, namely in 1830. Surprisingly, the first 124 years of life this turtle was mistaken for a male.

Who is the master?

Interestingly, British paleontologists, who carried out a very thorough reconstruction of the past turtle, believe that it was not Darwin who caught it, but ordinary whalers as a source of food. In addition, the hypothesis that the oldest tortoise in the world belonged to Darwin is based only on the fact that the scientist caught four giant animals during his trip to the Galapagos Islands (1835). Allegedly among them was Harriet.

Soon two of the four turtles died, the remaining two were transported by ship to Australia by one of Charles Darwin's friends. Further DNA analysis showed that Harriet, most likely, comes from an island called Santa Cruz (Galapagos Islands).

Guilty without guilt

The oldest turtle was the main attraction of the Queensland zoo for the last 30 years! A study of her DNA suggests that she is in any case no less than 170 years old. Today, scientists believe that on our planet there are about 12 of its relatives - giant elephant turtles. Moreover, zoologists blame Harriet for a small population! They claim that for the rest of their lives the world's oldest tortoise retained the ability to reproduce the offspring: she still had ovulation, but there was no "groom" ...

Quietly and modestly

According to the story of the caretakers of the zoo's premises, in which this tortoise lived, her favorite food was hibiscus flowers. In addition, she ate eggplants, zucchini, parsley and beans and led a very modest lifestyle.

Harriet died in 2005 in the Galapagos Islands. She was 175 years old.

Continuation of the dynasty

According to unofficial data, valid for October 2011, the oldest tortoise in the world is one male Jonathan, who lives on the island of St. Helena. To date, he supposedly turned 180 years old. However, this is not accurate information, because Jonathan's DNA analysis, conducted by world scientists, can not give us exact figures.

It is said that Jonathan still finds the strength to mate with the three females. It is interesting that this turtle is a contemporary of 8 monarchs of Great Britain and its 50 prime ministers!