Charles Darwin’s tortoise lived upto 176 years of age and died in 2006.
A tortoise that had been living in an Australian zoo for 176 years and was thought to be one of the world’s oldest living creatures has passed away. For a long time, it was believed that Charles Darwin brought back one of three tortoises from the Galapagos Islands with him on his historic voyage aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835. This tortoise was known as “Harriet.”
Darwin’s Tortoise
Darwin’s tortoise that had been living in an Australian zoo for 176 years and was thought to be one of the world’s oldest living creatures has passed away.
The death of the giant tortoise, whose name was Harriet, occurred at the Australia Zoo in Queensland, which is owned by the “Crocodile Hunter,” Steve Irwin, and his wife, Terri. Irwin expressed that he thought of Harriet as a member of the family at one point.
Irwin stated on Saturday that Harriet has played a significant role in the everyday life of the Irwin family. “She is possibly one of the oldest living creatures on the planet, and the passing of her today is not only a great loss for the world but also a very sad day for my family. She was a very special member of our family.” She was a lovely elderly lady in her day.”
On Friday, senior veterinarian Jon Hanger confirmed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that heart failure was the cause of Harriet’s death.
It was long believed that Charles Darwin brought back three tortoises from the Galapagos Islands with him on his historic voyage aboard the HMS Beagle in the year 1835. One of those tortoises was named Harriet.
However, historical records, despite their potential to support the claim, do not do so. And there are those in the scientific community who are sceptical of the account because DNA testing has demonstrated that Harriet was of a certain age but that she originated from a different island than Darwin ever visited.
Harriet was said to have been only five years old and probably no taller than a dinner plate when she was taken from the Galapagos Islands to Britain, according to a local legend.
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In the middle of the 1800s, the tortoise was transported from Britain to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, which are located in the state of Queensland in Australia, which is known for its tropical climate. According to the Australia Zoo, which acquired the 330-pound tortoise in 1987, she was misidentified as a male in that location and given the nickname Harry as a result.
It was believed that Harriet was one of the world’s oldest living creatures and the oldest living tortoise in existence at the time. Harriet is not the oldest known tortoise in the world, despite the fact that she has lived a very long time.
This distinction was bestowed upon Tui Malila, a radiated tortoise from Madagascar, by the Guinness Book of World Records. Captain James Cook, a British explorer, had given the tortoise to the royal family of Tonga in the 1770s. Tui Malila was the world’s largest tortoise at the time. It lived until 1965, when it passed away at the ripe old age of 188.
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