Meet the 183-year-old tortoise who is the world’s oldest living land creature Jonathan the tortoise, who lives on the British territory of St Helena, is thought to be the world’s oldest living land creature
By Tom Rowley, Special Correspondent, on St Helena, video edited by Ju Zhang
11:00AM GMT 03 Feb 2015
His wrinkly skin, cataracts and difficulty swallowing are common enough in old age. But Jonathan had been ambling around for a century before today’s pensioners were born.
At the age of 183, this tortoise is thought to be the world’s oldest living land creature. Born in 1832 at the latest, he has plodded through two world wars and numerous revolutions, outlasting all his human companions. He was even photographed, looking rather elderly, with a prisoner during the Boer War, which ended in 1902.