Being born in 1832, Jonathan the tortoise is currently the world’s oldest animal! He is a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), a subspecies of the Aladabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa).

He resides on the island of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean since the second half of the 1800s, and lives at the governor’s mansion.

The local SPCA helps to take care of him, and he is treated with the respect he deserves, receiving lots of fresh vegetables every week.  Even though there are other elderly tortoises at the mansion as well, none of them can match up to him. He was almost a century old when his first buddy was born.

It is believed that he is entirely blind now, but he still has a lot of fun. He enjoys his time out in the sun, eating a lot of grass and playing with his friends. He is extremely popular on the island, to an extent that his portrait is even printed on the back of their 5 pence coins.

Jonathan moves as a king, and gets all the love and respect elders should receive. 

Teeny Lucy, the chairperson for the local SPCA and his caretaker, says that Jonathan is an icon at the mansion, and has almost royal status, spending his days lounging and eating and living the life of Riley.

He is treated as a grand old gentleman who has seen it all, as since he had landed on St. Helena in 1882 as a fully grown adult; he has seen generations of people coming and going. Lucy says that he always interacts in a friendly way as long as people move slowly around him, and everyone is very fond of him.

Sources:
goodfullness.com
www.thedodo.com