In lieu of a cake, Jonathan the tortoise celebrated his 190th birthday this month with a heap of fresh vegetables and a three-day party.
Jonathan is the oldest living land animal, and he lives on the South Atlantic island and British overseas territory of St. Helena. He's spent most of his life upon the tiny territory, except for the first 50 years, and he's accompanied by three other giant turtles named David, Fred, and Emma.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Jonathan has outlived the oldest person ever by around 65 years," noting that the oldest authenticated age for a human is 122 years.
Jonathan was apparently born in 1832. However, this is an estimate based on his being fully grown when he arrived at St. Helena's from the Seychelles in East Africa in 1882.
"In all likelihood, he is even older than we think," said the record book in a blog post.
Unfortunately, the aged reptile is blind and has no sense of smell, so he needed some help from caretakers to finish his birthday meal.
Recent research has found that the giant tortoise's famous longevity is probably the result of gene variants that allow for accelerated immune response, DNA repair, and cancer suppression.
