Older than a lot of trees

[Tom Dunlap]

Harriet the tortoise, one of the world's oldest known living creatures, has died in Australia aged about 175.
Senior vet Dr John Hangar told Australia's ABC that Harriet, a Giant Galapagos tortoise, had died of heart failure after a short illness.

"She had a very fairly acute heart attack and thankfully passed away quietly overnight," Dr Hangar said.

Last year staff at Australia Zoo, where Harriet had lived for 17 years, held a party to celebrate her 175th birthday.

Some people believe that Harriet was studied by British naturalist Charles Darwin.

Darwin took several young Giant Galapagos tortoises back to London after his epic voyage on board HMS Beagle.

DNA testing has suggested the giant creature was born around 1830, a few years before Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835.

However, Harriet belonged to a sub-species of tortoise only found on an island that Darwin never visited.

At the time of her 175th birthday party, Harriet weighed 150kg (23 stone) and was roughly the size of a dinner table.

She was the star attraction at the Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Her keepers put her longevity down to a stress-free life.

 

[Toparboring]

It is amazing just what those creatures are to us as years of living. We humans live to what 80-90 years, they 100+ years old.
Asking the elders about the times when they grew up is cool and it also is learning lesson for me.
Ask one of them and the world is just a new born for the adverturer.
Darwin was proving that the total exsitance of the natural world was not solly based on the man up stairs, but as a survivail of the fittest and movements of nature do to the areas they live in.
We humans have come to survive cuase we are at the top of the food chian( in case we p.o. an animal). Just look at the creatures that are exstint just since Dawinn was around.
Sad that she passed away that is a true natural history right there. Just imagine what she saw in her life time.

 

[Treekwando]

Harriet weighed 150kg (23 stone)??????



Ekka, You want to translate 23 stone for us...

 

[jimmyq]

150kg = about 330lbs.

 

[Nathan]

Ekka and I went and saw Harriet back in January. She looked happy, happy as a turtle can be. Quite a history.

I had a pet tortise from 1979 'til 2004 and it was old when I got it.

Everything that lives and breathes can stop living and breathing. That includes redwoods, oaks, even bristle cone pines. There is no such thing as a climax community.

Sad news indeed.

 

[glens]

There were a couple of big old ones at Como Park some years ago. Have a look when you're in the neighborhood at the Internationals.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I remember riding the tortoise at Como Park when I was a kid. They rarely moved around.

1958 Toby, the giant Galapagos tortoise, comes to live at Como Zoo. Small children are allowed to ride on Toby's back. The first Siberian tigers to be raised successfully in captivity are born at Como Zoo.

1974 The Como Zoological Society is incorporated as a support group for Como Zoo. Toby, the Galapagos tortoise, retires to the Honolulu Zoo, where he still lives today.

I don't think that they have 'free range tortoise' at Como Zoo anymore

 

[Al57]

Kind of a cute little tale.About 1973 my exwifes brother inlaw was finishing his masters degree at Purdue university.The young couple had a three year old son,Jim.Jim was a bright youngster,inquisitive and very matter of fact in his conversation.

West LaFayette Indiana had a nice little zoo that had several large tortises.Jim told his uncle Al all about them.He said they were big and slow.I asked what they ate.He said,"Salad, yuck".They were fed lettace and other vegitation but in the eyes of a three year old,salad it was,ha.

 

[glens]

Tom, my recollection was likely based on pre-'74 experience. Sorry for the dated info... I figured it would be safe to mention since 30 years to those critters is a drop in the bucket.

I don't suppose they've relocated Minnehaha Falls, too?

St. Paul is without a doubt one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen.

I was born in Ramsey County but only spent limited time there through the years. The home my grandparents built and lived in for 40+ years is on the corner of Hamline and Bayard. Grandma's grandpa was a pioneer in the area and the farmhouse she was born in is now the third house from the same corner, heading toward the park on Hamline. So far as I know, she never lived off what is now the block in all her 80+ years! My dad also grew up in that "farm" house and talked of hunting with his .22 right in the "back yard"!

 

[Stumper]

One of the oddest sights I have ever witnessed was Galapagos Tortoises breeding. At the speed they approach life 175 years isn't long at all.