Legendary tortoise dies in Calcutta
World's oldest animal dies -- at the age of
250!
A giant tortoise thought to be one of the world’s oldest creatures has died in a Calcutta zoo, ending a life that spanned much of modern Indian history.
Local lore said Adwaita, the Aldabra tortoise whose name means “the one and only” in the local Bengali language, was some 250 years old. That, however, would have made him much older than the world’s oldest documented living animal: Harriet, a 176-year-old Galapagos tortoise who lives at the Australia Zoo north of Brisbane, according to the zoo’s website.
[Harriet] was taken from the island of Isla Santa Cruz by Charles Darwin in the 19th century.
Adwaita arrived at the zoo in 1875. Zoo officials say he was one of four tortoises brought to India by British sailors from the Seychelle islands as a gift for Lord Robert Clive of the East India Company. Clive was instrumental in establishing British colonial rule in India, before he returned to England in 1767.
While the other three tortoises died, Adwaita reportedly thrived, living in Clive’s garden before being moved to the zoo.
Adwaita was around longer than the United States.
Posted: Fri - March 24, 2006 at 08:07 AM