Did You Know?
The French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte was sent to St Helena in 1815 following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. He died there six years later in May 1821.
St. Helena is a volcanic island in the South Atlantic (seen from space, left). It is 4,000 kilometres east of Rio de Janeiro and 1,210 kilometres west of southwest Africa. You would be correct in saying that St. Helena is a long way from anywhere, but it became an extremely important stopover for sailors on their travels from Europe to Asia and South Africa. Many people that live there today can trace their roots to Africa, America, Europe and China.
In those olden days of sailing by sea, in an age when there was no kind of refrigeration, ships kept live animals like chickens on board so sailors could eat fresh meat. They also stored tortoises, which were easy to pack into small spaces: and the tortoises were packed with nutrients and fat when eaten. In fact, tortoise meat was said to be delicious.
For some reason, in 1882 a ship left one particular tortoise behind on St Helena: and he is still alive and well today. His name is Jonathan.
Jonathan is a giant tortoise. He is 114 centimetres long and 121 centimetres tall. Giant tortoises are famous for having a long lifespan and can easily live for 150 years. Some live much longer. There were reports that Jonathan was fully grown when he arrived on St Helena. Experts say that for a giant tortoise to be fully grown, it must be at least 50 years old. That would put Jonathan’s year of birth as 1832 making him 194 years old in 2026. If this is correct, he is the world’s oldest living land animal.
He lives in the grounds of Plantation House which is where the island’s governor lives. Four other giant tortoises live there, too. Not long ago, Jonathan became blind, and he also lost his sense of smell making it difficult for him to find food. As a result, his health began to deteriorate. Today, he is well looked after, and he is fed every Sunday morning with a diet of bananas, cabbages and carrots. His hearing is said to be excellent and when he hears that food is being delivered his usually slow walking pace speeds up.
There was shock on 1 April this year, April Fool’s Day, when a post on ‘X’ announced that Jonathan had died. The post received over two million views, and there was an outpouring of grief. However, an announcement from Plantation House confirmed the welcome news that Jonathan was most certainly not dead. He remains alive and well.
It is hard to imagine the different periods of history that Jonathan has lived through. If only he could talk. What tales he would have to tell?
Find out more about St Helena and Jonathan at: http://sainthelenaisland.info/jonathan.htm
Meet Jonathan the Tortoise:
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