The World's Oldest Living Land Animal Just Turned 194 And He Is Still Going Strong
Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise living on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, has extended his Guinness World Record for the world's oldest living land animal to 194 years, and has been named a Guinness World Records Icon, a title reserved for a select group of record-holders whose achievements have transcended their field and inspired people across the globe. Jonathan's birth year is estimated to be 1832 at the very latest, though researchers believe he may be older still, and he was already a full-grown adult of at least 50 years when he arrived at St. Helena from the Seychelles in 1882, meaning he has lived on the same island through the final decade of Queen Victoria's reign, two World Wars, the moon landing, the invention of the internet, and every other defining event of the past 140 years. At 194, he has also outlived every other Guinness record holder in any category, across any species, anywhere on land.
Jonathan has lost his eyesight and his sense of smell over the decades, but his caretakers report that he continues to eat, sunbathe, and mate with remarkable enthusiasm for his age, and the Governor of St. Helena, Nigel Phillips, described him as a symbol of the enduring resilience of the island and as very much its brightest icon. Jonathan, known affectionately to locals as Jono, lives in the paddock of the Governor's Residence, has been photographed at weddings, has met royalty, and has become one of the most visited attractions on an island that is itself one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. Other Guinness Icons named alongside him this year include Shohei Ohtani, who became the first player in Major League Baseball history to post a 50 home run and 50 stolen base season, Christina Koch, who completed the longest spaceflight by a woman, and BLACKPINK, the most-streamed female music group in Spotify history. Jonathan's company in the list says something about the breadth of human and animal achievement the records capture, and his inclusion says something more specific: that 194 years of uninterrupted existence, quiet, steady, and entirely unconcerned with the chaos of history, is genuinely one of the most remarkable things that has ever been documented.
