World's oldest living animal, 184-year-old tortoise named Jonathan, has first ever bath

 Jonathan the tortoise from St Helena is 184 years old

23 MARCH 2016 • 9:44AM

A giant tortoise living on the British outpost of St Helena is given a clean-up ahead of Royal visit.

The world's oldest living animal, a 184-year-old giant tortoise, has had its first ever bath.

Jonathan, a giant tortoise living on St Helena, was cleaned up by the island's vet in preparation for an upcoming Royal visit.

Almost two centuries' worth of grime was scrubbed off its back using a loofah, soft brush and surgical soap.

Dr Joe Hollins, the vet for the tiny British outpost island in the south Atlantic, scrubbed each of the segments of Jonathan's shell, known as scutes, and removed black sludge and bird droppings while the tortoise sedately chewed on grass.

Surgical soap was chosen as it is not caustic and the soft brushes and loofah were gently used so not to damage its shell.

It was only after Jonathan's bath it was realised the rings on its shell, which usually tell a tortoises' age, have completely worn away.

There was no medical reason for the hour-long clean-up but it was done ahead of a visit by a member of the Royal family to the tiny island of St Helena in May for the dedication of the new airport.

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Basilewsky’s cranefly: Insect thought to be extinct for decades lands on expert sent to hunt for it

The tiny island of St Helena has been dubbed the Galapagos of the South Atlantic because its animals and plants have evolved in isolation from the rest of the world

Ian Johnston 

Thursday 4 February 2016

When a British entomologist was sent to the tiny island of St Helena to search for a cranefly feared extinct for decades, it might have sounded like a Herculean task.

So Liza Fowler, of the Bugs on the Brink project, was somewhat taken aback when one flew in the window of her car and landed on her, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The island has been dubbed the Galapagos of the South Atlantic because its animals and plants have evolved in isolation from the rest of the world, resulting in more than 400 invertebrate animals which are found nowhere else.

Basilewsky’s cranefly, which looks a bit like a mini daddy long legs, had not been seen for nearly 50 years – until Ms Fowler arrived to carry out an audit of the island’s insect life..

“Capturing the Basilewsky’s cranefly was a real stroke of luck, one flew into the car at High Peak and landed on me,” she said.

However, Ms Fowler also found a large number of alien species on St Helena, where Napoleon Bonaparte spent his last days after defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

“Unfortunately most of the new bugs are not such good news to the island as they are invaders from other places and may turn out to be detrimental to the indigenous bugs, flora or crops, but it is good that we now know about them,” she said.

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Lost chance to save the giant earwig: they got there too soon - via Graham Inglis

If only things had been different back in the 1960s, Dave Clarke of London Zoo might now know what it was like to have a three-inch-long earwig wriggling in his hands.

But they weren’t, and half a century on, the St Helena Giant Earwig looks set to be declared extinct. Not that Dave is giving up hope completely.

He led an expedition to the island in 1988, hoping to find live specimens for a captive breeding programme to save the species. It appears they got there too late.

The tragedy was that a team from Belgium found live specimens in the 1960s, but the idea of captive breeding just hadn’t taken hold yet. In effect, they had got there too early.

“It is a massive frustration,” admits Dave, team leader of the Bugs and Butterflies exhibits for the Zoological Society of London.

“The last time they had been properly seen was in the 1960s – the Belgian expeditions,” says Dave.

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Meet Jonathan, St Helena's 182-year-old giant tortoise

By Sally Kettle

St Helena

Our world is full of weird and wonderful creatures, many of which amaze scientists and non-scientists, alike. But is it true that a living tortoise could have started its life in the first half of the 19th Century?

Plantation House in St Helena sits proud amid gumwood trees alive with chirps and whistles.

It is the official residence of Mark Capes, Governor of the British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic. I have not come to see the governor, nor the large brown hillocks which dot the pristine lawns.

It's only when my guide Joe Hollis, the sole vet on the island, bangs on a large metal bowl, that all becomes clear. The hillocks rise and trot surprisingly swiftly towards us.

Meet Jonathan, Myrtle and Fredrika, three of five giant tortoises who live on St Helena. Their shy friends David and Emma are hiding in the rough.

"He is virtually blind from cataracts, has no sense of smell - but his hearing is good," Joe tells me. At 182, Jonathan may be the oldest living land creature.

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Conserving globally threatened bugs on the UK Overseas Territory of St Helena.

Bugs on the brink - Conserving St Helena's invertebrates

June 2013. Wildlife charity, Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, has launched a 3-year ‘Bugs on the Brink' project, on the UK Overseas Territory of St Helena. Many of St Helena's unique invertebrates are on the brink of extinction, with some of its most iconic species, such as the Giant earwig, feared lost within living memory. Funded by the Darwin Initiative, the project will help to conserve St Helena's globally threatened invertebrates. This is the first time that anyone has set out to create a long-term plan for conserving St Helena's invertebrates.

400 endemic invertebrates

St Helena is one of the UK's ‘Overseas Territories', lying in the South Atlantic Ocean, mid-way between Africa and South America. It is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world and, for now, can only be reached by boat. The island's flora and fauna evolved in extreme isolation, resulting in more than 400 invertebrate species found nowhere else on Earth. For this reason, St Helena has been called the ‘Galapagos of the South Atlantic'.

Extinctions

Unfortunately, following its discovery by sailors in 1502, St Helena suffered immense environmental destruction, caused by introduced livestock and forest clearance. Today, much of the island's unique wildlife is threatened with extinction. Iconic invertebrates such as the Giant earwig (Labidura herculeana), Giant ground beetle (Aplothorax burchelli) and St Helena darter (a dragonfly - Sympetrum dilatatum) are believed lost within living memory. The remnants of the native flora and fauna are struggling to survive in habitat fragments, which occupy a tiny fraction of their original area. They also face a wide range of pressures from non-native plants and animals.

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Jonathan, 178, 'is world's oldest tortoise'

A tortoise captured on a Boer War photograph has been declared the oldest in the world after researchers found that it is still alive.

Jonathan the tortoise - who still lives on the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena where the picture was taken - is said to be at least 178-years-old.

The photograph was taken around the year 1900 and shows Jonathan with a Boer War prisoner, reports the Daily Telegraph.

It was discovered as part of a collection of Boer War images taken by a man named L.A. Innes who had a studio in the British territory's capital Jamestown.

The pictures were recently sold at auction for £4,000. Further investigation revealed the tortoise in the picture was Jonathan who was still alive.

The tortoise was already about 70 at the time the black and white picture was taken. His life has spanned eight British monarchs from George IV to Elizabeth II.

Jonathan lives on St Helena, along with five other tortoises David, Speedy, Emma, Fredricka and Myrtle, in a plantation.

Despite his old age, locals say he still has the energy to regularly mate with the three younger females.

A spokesman for the island's tourist board said: "Jonathan is the sole survivor of three tortoises that arrived on St Helena Island in 1882.

"He was already mature when he arrived and was at least 50-years-old. Therefore his minimum age is 178-years-old.

"Jonathan is still very active despite his age and adores attention, he is a real poser. He seems to be sightless in one eye, but does not let that slow him down."

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Jonathan_178_is_worlds_oldest_tortoise