The world's oldest tortoise died in 2005.
It was so old, it was originally caught by Charles Darwin!


Charles Darwin picked up a tortoise from the Galapagos Islands during his famous voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. He brought her back to England and named her Harriet. He also brought two other tortoises back with him from his voyage.

He thought all three tortoises were males and named them Tom, Dick, and Harry.
Harry turned out to be a female, hence the name change. She is part of an endangered species of Galapagos tortoises.

Harriet was born in 1830 and lived to be 179 years old and died in 2005.
Guinness Book of Records sites Harriet as the oldest tortoise known to live. Other animals sited in their records are a guinea pig and a dove.


Methuselah, a caged dove, was born in 1975 and has lived with his owner in Germany for over 32 years.
Snowball was the oldest guinea pig on record and lived 14 years and 10.5 months. He died in 1979.
Most guinea pigs' life span is only 7 years.