On the Internet, pictures of the oldest land animal in the world are popular - turtles named Jonathan, which is supposedly more than 190 years old. We decided to check if this information is true.

The story of a long-lived turtle can be found on cognitive And entertainment portals, as well as in social networks ("VKontakte" X) and on the blog-platforms ("Zen" Livejournal, Facebook*). In the last decade, many media outlets ("Gazeta.ru","Rules of life","New hearth","Fontanka.ru","Around the world","World"Et al.) In December Every year they release news that Jonathan celebrated the next birthday. In some articles and posts, black and white shots of turtles in youth are also posted-1886.

Articles about an elderly turtle named Jonathan are far not only in the Russian -speaking segment of the network. In different years, his story was told BBC, Independent, CNN And many other publications. It is reported that in 1882 the reptile was brought to the island of St. Elena from the Seychelles and presented to the governor. Since then, Jonathan has been living on the island for almost a century and a half and managed to become one of the local attractions.

In 2019, Jonathan I got it In the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest now living a land animal, it is stated that then he was 187 years old. He was separated from the title of the oldest representative of the Cherekhov family for only one year - at that time, a turtle named Tui Malila, who lived 188 years, was considered to be one at that time. But in 2022, in his 190 years, Jonathan received And this title. The article on the Guinness Book website notes that during the life of a turtle, scientific progress stepped far forward: the first photo, the first phone call was taken, the first flight to the moon was made. Meanwhile, Jonathan himself has not changed at all-his main interests are still sleep, food and mating.

In other words, Jonathan certainly exists and has become a kind of symbol of St. Helena, where he spent almost his whole life. On the island even coin with a face value of 5 pence depicting this turtle.

As for the age of Jonathan - everything is not so unambiguous here. It is believed that he hatched in 1832 - it is from this date that his record age is counted. But in fact, there is no confirmed data on which year the turtle was born. Conclusions about the age of Jonathan are based mostly in archival photos. So, in many posts and articles dedicated to this animal, you can see a black and white picture dated 1886. It depicts several people and two turtles, one of them is just Jonathan. By Expert opinion, in the photo an adult, a fully formed male tortoise, which happens to these animals by about 50 years. The caretaker who cares about Jonathan in 2022 told the newspaper The Washington Postthat in one of the letters of the governor written in the year of the arrival of the turtle to the island of St. Helena, it was indicated that Jonathan is an adult. Therefore, from 1882 they simply took up 50 years and accepted the 1832nd during the year of the birth of Jonathan, although at the time of “moving” it could have been a few more. In 2022, the governor of the island of St. Elena appointed Jonathan the official birthday - December 4.

1886. Source: Unknown PhotoGrapher, Public Domain, Via Wikimedia Commons

Jonathan - Giant Seychelle Turtle, representatives of this species often Live up to 100-150 years. The upper boundary of the possible life expectancy of such turtles is unknown, because, as noted, scientists exploring them simply do not survive until the moment when they could fix this indicator.

Thus, a popular story about a long-lived turtle on the Internet is generally true, but it is impossible to determine the age of the animal with an accuracy of up to a year. However, apparently, Jonathan may be even older than this is commonly believed.

*The Russian authorities consider Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Kevin Gepford, CC by-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons