A photo of Jonathan, the oldest tortoise in the world, in 1948

zolasmum

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
2,001
Our tortoise,Zola, has a human friend called David (aged80something) who visited the island of St Helena, in the South Atlantic,(where Napoleon was exiled by the British after Waterloo) many years ago and met Jonathan, the oldest tortoise in the world .
Now a friend of his, to whom he had talked about Zola, has just sent him this photo , taken in 1948, of herself and other children with Jonathan, who was already 110 years old !!
She is the little girl at the front, aged 4, who later became a doctor on the island (aged77 now)
Jonathan is still alive, of course,living happily on the governor's lawn.
I include a photo of David, holding Zola,without whom this photo would never have come to light
Angie
Jonathan-1948-sepia.jpgDavid-4_sm.jpg
 

TheLastGreen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2021
Messages
929
Location (City and/or State)
Johannesburg
Extremely intresting, apparently Galapagos is old Spanish for saddle. The name was given to the torts and the islands when colonist arrived and they looked at each other and thought :"Wow, thats a big tort, lets ride it!"
(Even Darwin tried to ride one)
Extremely intresting @zolasmum !
 

Sarah2020

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Mar 16, 2020
Messages
1,604
Location (City and/or State)
London, UK
Lovely to see. When I was in galapagos years ago I met lonesome George amazing size and character. Nice that Jonathan still going strong!
 

jsheffield

Well-Known Member
Moderator
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
3,114
Location (City and/or State)
Westmoreland, NH
I visited the Galapagos in the late-80s and met Lonesome George at the Darwin Research Station... I didn't know any better (and weighed a bunch less) back then, and took a ride on one of the big tortoises we met up in the hills (not George).

I'd love to get out to St. Helena sometime, but it's so... very... far... away from every other place on Earth.

Jamie
 

MaNaAk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2021
Messages
1,227
Location (City and/or State)
Southend
Ooh, Natrah - that would be an honour too !! There is an article about Jonathan in the Guardian today - the island is
producing special stamps and coins with his picture on.
Angiexxx
Oh I missed that Angie I'll have a look and see if there's anything in the Times.

Natrah
 

New Posts

Top