World’s oldest known tortoise still very much alive despite rumour to the contrary

Jonathan, the world's oldest tortoise. (St. Helena Tourism / Mathias Falcone)

LONDON -- Reports on April Fools’ Day of the death of the world’s oldest living land animal -- a 193-year-old tortoise called Jonathan -- were greatly exaggerated.

Jonathan is still kicking -- albeit slowly -- on the island of St. Helena.

“It was a hoax,” Anne Dillon, head of communications on the island, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I can just assure you that he is very much alive.”

News of the Seychelles giant tortoise’s demise spread rapidly on social media on Wednesday.

An account on X, falsely claiming to be by Joe Hollins, a veterinarian who had worked with the reptile on the island in the south Atlantic Ocean between Africa and Brazil, said he was heartbroken to announce the death of the “gentle giant” that “outlived empires, wars, and generations of humans.”

The post quickly accumulated nearly two million views through Thursday, mostly an outpouring of condolences.

But Hollins later said on Facebook that he didn’t even have an X account and something more sinister was afoot.

“There is a hoax -- not even an April Fool -- going around,” Hollins wrote. “The hoaxer is asking for crypto donations. It’s a con.”

Guinness World Records lists Jonathan as the oldest living land animal and the oldest tortoise ever. He was believed to be about 50 years old when he was brought to St. Helena in 1882.

The St. Helena government sent a photo of Jonathan taken Thursday of him roaming the grounds of the governor’s residence on the island best known as the place Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled following his defeat by the British at Waterloo in 1815. It was the place where the former emperor of France died in 1821, about a decade before Jonathan is believed to have taken the first steps in what would become a very long life.

By Brian Melley