Posted on 03/23/2006 1:39:18 AM PST by lunarbicep
Adwaita, the nearly 255-year-old giant tortoise that roamed the Alipore Zoo here, has died.
The Aldabra-Seychelles tortoise had not been well for the past few days. It was found dead by zookeepers Wednesday when they went to his enclosure with medicine.
'He had developed a wound on his chest. He was not keeping well. We were keeping a close watch on him,' West Bengal Forest Minister Jogesh Burman said, mourning the death of Adwaita, meaning the peerless one or the only one.
In deference to his more than two-and-half-century's existence, this grand old resident of Kolkata was named Adwaita by Burman last year and given more green space to amble along.
The 250-kg male was a vegetarian. He was brought to the city 255 years ago by the British colonialists.
Adwaita was brought to the zoo 130 years ago after spending years in the garden of Robert Clive (1725-1774), the victor of the Battle of Plassey in 1757 who consolidated the British empire in India.
When the zoo came up 130 years ago, the tortoise was shifted to the premises.
Since then, the dark grey land tortoise has lived in a small, rocky enclosure.
Alipore Zoo director Subir Chowdhury said there were documents to prove the tortoise is about 255 years old.
'A tortoise of this species can live up to 320 years according to available records. He may even be over 300 years,' Burman said.
If only the tortoise could speak, what a tale he would have to tell!
R.I.P., Adwaita....
wow, pretty amazing.
Ping
George Washington was a teenager when this tortoise was born!
So was Helen Thomas.
pretty amazing stuff.
Tortoise ping!
*bookmark*
It's George Bush's fault.
Would be interesting if scientists find a medical breakthrough of human longevity from studying the tortoise though frankly I think its because their metabolism is so slow.
Amazing to even imagine living possibly 300 years!
Turtle older than the USA.
But to do it, you have to get a shell and walk on all fours.
Rightly positioned...he would have seen ALL of our Founding Fathers and our glorious past!!!
What a miracle of life!
Too bad.
A tortoise that Charles Darwin brought back on his voyages is still alive. Pretty cool.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=a8ZQNl.gkDoI&refer=australia
...But they don't listen to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
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