# Turns out this 186-year-old tortoise has a gay lover



## Cowboy_Ken (Oct 19, 2017)

Turns out this 186-year-old tortoise has a gay lover
By Lia Eustachewich

October 19, 2017 | 3:34pm


Jonathan, now 186 years old, in a photo from 2008.
EPA
A 186-year-old tortoise on St. Helena has spent the past 26 years shacking up with a mate he’s never bred with – and now his keepers know why.

They’re gay lovers.

It turns out the elderly reptile fell in love with another male tortoise – long believed to be a female named Frederica, according to The Times in the UK. 

The pair has been inseparable since 1991 when the French consul gifted Frederica to the governor of St. Helena as a mate for Jonathan.

Their keepers only recently learned that Frederica was really Frederic following a closer examination of his shell.

Jonathan is believed to be the oldest resident of the tiny UK territory, which is, coincidentally, struggling to legalize same-sex marriage.

The aging tortoise has lived through much of the island’s history since arriving in his 30s as a gift from the Seychelles in the 1880s.


He’s been photographed with monarchs, politicians and even prisoners held captive on St. Helena during the Boer war of 1899-1902.

Jonathan now has cataracts and has lost his sense of smell – but, as a creature of habit, eats at set times, takes daily naps in the long grass around 4 p.m. — and dutifully visits his mate every Sunday morning.


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## wellington (Oct 19, 2017)

Pretty small looking for being that old and male.


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## Cowboy_Ken (Oct 19, 2017)

wellington said:


> Pretty small looking for being that old and male.



I questioned the age statement myself. Going by this picture, I’ve got a sulcata half that age. LOL. And straight …


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## Big Charlie (Oct 19, 2017)

I don't know if my sulcata is straight. His lover is a rock.


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## MPRC (Oct 19, 2017)

Big Charlie said:


> I don't know if my sulcata is straight. His lover is a rock.


You can't make me laugh like that, I'm sick and I might suffocate!


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