Born Before the Railways
Sometime around 1832, a tortoise hatched on the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean. The United States had 24 states. Charles Darwin had not yet sailed on the Beagle. Most of Europe's railways did not exist yet.
The tortoise grew slowly, as his kind does. In those first decades, the world moved fast around him. He barely noticed.
A Long Voyage South
In 1882, when Jonathan was approximately 50 years old, he was transported from the Seychelles to Saint Helena: a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,200 miles from the nearest continental coast. He arrived as a gift to the governor.
He has lived there ever since, on the grounds of Plantation House, the governor's official residence. He has watched 40 governors come and go. The island has changed. He has not changed much.
What He Has Outlasted
Jonathan has outlived 40 US presidents. He was alive during the American Civil War, both World Wars, the moon landing, and the invention of the internet. He has been on Saint Helena longer than most countries' current governments have existed.
His shell carries the minor nicks and weathering of nearly two centuries of outdoor life. His eyes no longer see. His sense of smell faded long ago. His hearing is still sharp.
The Voice He Knows
Jonathan's primary caretaker is a man named Jonathan Hollins, who has tended to him for years on the grounds of Plantation House. The old tortoise cannot see him coming. He cannot smell him.
But he hears his voice. Staff at Plantation House have observed that Jonathan responds to Hollins specifically: turning toward him, moving toward the sound, recognizing something in the particular pitch and rhythm of a voice that has fed him and spoken to him for years. At 193 years old, he knows his person.
Still Moving
Jonathan does not hurry. He never did. But he moves under his own power across the grounds of Plantation House each day, navigating the same island he has navigated since the 1880s. He finds patches of sun and settles into them.
He still eats well when hand-fed. Bananas and other soft fruit, mostly. He tilts his ancient head up to accept what is offered, patient as a stone, alive as anything.
The Oldest Living Land Animal
In 2022, Guinness World Records confirmed what naturalists had long suspected: Jonathan is the oldest known living land animal on Earth. The confirmation was based on photographs taken in 1886, showing him already fully mature, which meant he had to have hatched no later than the early 1830s.
He does not know about the record. He is on Saint Helena, in the sun, listening for a familiar voice. He has been doing some version of this for nearly two centuries. There is no indication he plans to stop.
Field Notes
- Jonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa) with a confirmed birth date of approximately 1832, making him around 193 years old as of 2025.
- He was transported to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean in 1882 and has lived at Plantation House, the governor's official residence, ever since.
- Guinness World Records officially named him the world's oldest known living land animal in 2022, based on photographic evidence from 1886 showing him already fully grown.
- Jonathan has outlived 40 US presidents. He was alive during the administrations of Andrew Jackson through Joe Biden.
- He is now blind and has lost his sense of smell, but his hearing remains strong and he recognizes the voice of his caretaker, Jonathan Hollins.
Support WWF
WWF works to protect wildlife and the habitats they depend on, including the island ecosystems and endangered species that need long-term conservation to survive.
Support WWF
