At 184, This Is The World’s Oldest Living Animal – Jonathan
23 Mar 2016 by Sloane Hunter in Animals, Celebrities, Entertainment, Environment, Royalty
No, no, Jonathan is not a seagull, he’s a tortoise and the other day the world’s oldest living animal had his first bath ever. You see, there’s an upcoming Royal visit to his home, St Helena, so the local vet cleaned him up. Almost two centuries worth of grime was scrubbed off his back.
Among the dirt that was removed was black sludge and bird droppings, as Dr Joe Hollins scrubbed each segment individually (they are also called scutes). He used a soft brush and a loofah so as not to damage the poor dude’s shell.
Only after his bath did people realise that the rings on his shell – which, like a tree, tells the animal’s age – have completely worn away.
Jonathan first made his way to the island when he was just 50 years old as a present to the governor from the Seychelles. He is 45ins long and can stand 2ft tall and was placed on a special high calorie diet as it was feared his health was on the wane. His doctor had a few things to say on the matter:
In the past Jonathan’s keepers had a rather laissez faire attitude to the tortoises on St Helena and so this is probably his first wash in 184 years.
We gave him a good scrub as we are expecting a Royal visitor who is going to meet him so we want him to look his best.
He looks so much cleaner and he seemed to enjoy the whole experience.
Jonathan stood like a statue when I was washing him, I don’t know whether that was the vibrations he found soothing or he was thinking ‘At last, I’ve had my first bath!’.
I just had a bucket of water with some surgical scrub and used the loofah and a little brush and just slowly cleaned him, it was pretty tiring
He doesn’t look any younger, but he does look different. He is much paler and you can see the rings on his shell have almost completely disappeared.
He had black deposits on his shell that came from wear and tear. As far as I could see his shell is in great condition for his age.
Hopefully he won’t have to wait another 185 years before his next bath.”
The island is expecting a visit by a member of the Royal family for the dedication of the new airport
[source: telegraph]
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