At 190, Jonathan the Tortoise Is the World’s Oldest

Although Jonathan is now blind and has lost his sense of smell, he continues to engage in his favorite pastimes: sun-bathing, sleeping, eating, and mating. Liam Young.

Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), will celebrate his 190th birthday this year at his home on the South Atlantic Island of St. Helena, a volcanic British Overseas Territory.

According to the Guinness World Records, the event will make the reptile the oldest-ever living chelonian, the reptile order that includes turtles, terrapins and tortoises. Previously, the record was held by Tu'i Malila, a Madagascar radiated tortoise gifted to Tonga's royal family in 1777 and died in 1965 at 188 years old.

A photo taken between 1882 and 1886 shows a fully-grown Jonathan munching grass at Plantation House with a group of people, providing further evidence of his suspected age, reports Sanj Atwal for Guinness World Records.

Seychelles tortoises were found on various Indian Ocean archipelagos but went extinct because sailors used them for food on ships. Hollins, who has tended to Jonathan for 13 years, tells the Washington Post that ship crews harvested tortoises because they didn't need food or water for days and were easily stacked.

"It was quite traditional for [tortoises] to be used as diplomatic gifts around the world if they weren't eaten first. Apparently, they were utterly delicious." Hollins tells the Post.

If he was in fact born in 1832, Jonathan has lived through many historical events. To name only a few:

• President Andrew Jackson's second inauguration in 1833 and the inaugurations of 39 more United States presidents
• The first photograph of a person was snapped in 1838
• The incandescent lightbulb was invented in 1878
• The beginning and end of two World Wars
• The first steps of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon in 1969.