Re: 250 yr old Tortoise Dies

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Mike Taylor wrote:
>
> Not necessarily.  According to the _Guinness Book of Animal Facts and
> Feats_, 3rd (and last) edition, 1982:
> 
>         [...]
>         The greatest authentic age recorded for a tortoise is
>         152+ years for a male Marion's tortoise (_Geochelone
>         sumeirei_) brought from the Seychelles to Mauritius in
>         1766 by the Chevalier de Fresne.

I beleive Harriet now beats this record (she was 151 in 1982, but is
still alive):

>From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10049984/

 CANBERRA, Australia - Harriet the tortoise, quite possibly the
 oldest living animal on Earth, celebrated her 175th birthday on
 Tuesday -- with a pink hibiscus flower cake at her retirement home in
 northern Australia.

 Australia Zoo, where Harriet has spent the past 17 years, claims the
 Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise was collected by British scientist
 Charles Darwin in 1835.

 But while DNA evidence shows Harriet hatched on one of the
 Galapagos islands, her DNA also shows she came from an island that
 Darwin never visited.

 There is no doubt, however, over the age of Harriet -- who for more
 than a century was thought to be a male and named Harry -- and she
 is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living
 chelonian, or reptile with a shell of bony plates.

And from http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1506637.htm

 While DNA evidence shows Harriet hatched on one of the Galapagos
islands
 175 years ago, her DNA also shows she came from an island that Darwin
never
 visited.
 
 Ms Stewart says there could be an explanation for how Harriet came from
Santa
 Cruz Island but was found on James Island.

 "Giant tortoises were a commodity to be traded. The other thing is of
course that
 her parents might have been moved from Santa Cruz to James Island and
then
 bred, producing Harriet," she said.


-- 
___________________________________________________________________

Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist         http://heretichides.soffiles.com
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
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