Jonathan isn’t your ordinary tortoise, and that’s not just because he’s absolutely massive. This giant tortoise happens to be the oldest living land animal in the world. There are various estimates as to how old he is, but they all suggest he’s between 182 and 184 years old.
He’s housed on the tropical island of St. Helena with four other giant tortoises. Even though he’s mostly blind due to cataracts and can’t smell much anymore, Jonathan shows no signs of slowing down, as far as turtles go at least.
He arrived on St. Helena with three other tortoises in 1882 and was estimated to be around 50 years old. Though he arrived in 1882, he wasn’t named Jonathan until St. Helena Governor Sir Spencer Davis named him in the 1930’s. Jonathan still lives on the same grounds of the plantation house that was the residence of Davis, but it now belongs to the St. Helena government.
Jonathan may be the oldest living land animal, but he’s not the oldest to ever live. That title belongs to Tui Malila, a giant tortoise that died in 1965 at the age of 189.
With only five years left to knock Tui Malila off the throne of ‘oldest living land animal,’ it looks like Jonathan is coming for the title.
If he keeps getting pampered with baths like this, he just may make it to the 200-year-old mark:
