Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society » Harriet the Tortoise Knew Charles Darwin

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March 22nd, 2006

Harriet the Tortoise Knew Charles Darwin

We were wondering the other day as to what might be the oldest living creature. Putting aside sticky questions about how to calculate the lifespans of certain non-vertebrate lifeforms, it seems the answer is Harriet, a 175-year-old Galapagos Land Tortoise with an incredible history:

Likely born in 1830 on Isla Santa Cruz, Harriet was around five years old and about the size of a dinner plate when she attracted the attention of a certain naturalist of note. Sir Charles Darwin landed in the Galapagos in 1835 and took Harriet and two other tortoises back to England for scientific studies. In 1842 John Wickham, one of Darwin’s colleagues, brought Harriet to Australia aboard a whaling ship and the land down under has been her home ever since.

FOLLOWUP: A TRAGIC MISTAKE?

Reader Carry Allen points out that Harriet is not, in fact, the oldest living creature. Or, at least, was not. That title belonged to a 255-year-old tortoise in India named Adwatiya. In a remarkable and sad coincidence, Adwatiya died yesterday, the same day as this post.

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