Posted on 06/23/2006 7:01:25 AM PDT by presidio9
A 176-year-old giant tortoise believed to have been studied by famed English naturalist Charles Darwin, has died in Australia after a short illness.
The extremely elderly tortoise, Harriet, was hatched on the Galapagos Islands in 1830 but lived out her final years at Australia Zoo in southeast Queensland where she was the star attraction.
Senior veterinarian John Hangar said the 150-kilogram (330-pound) reptile died on Thursday night after a short illness.
"She had been sick yesterday with, in effect, heart failure," Hangar told ABC radio.
"She had a fairly acute heart attack and thankfully passed away quietly overnight."
Hangar said Harriet, who had made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest living animal, had been credited with helping Darwin pioneer his theory of evolution.
"It's thought she may have been taken off there (Galapagos) by Charles Darwin," he said. "She's spent a period of time in Britain and found herself at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane from about 1850 or 1860 onwards and eventually she found her way up to Australia Zoo."
Harriet was originally named Harry, as she was mistakenly identified as male, an error which was not rectified for more than a century.
LOL!
I heard that Harriet smoked a pack a day of Pall Malls until she was well into her 90s, and began and ended each day with a pint of Jim Beam.
OK, that was pretty funny.
Wasn't so much at first, but now it's grown on me and I can't stop snickering.
Looking good Harriet!!!
Yeah, but all that walking she did was great exercise. She never ran anywhere in her life.
Will the Grand Master of DarwinCentral™ ("the Conspiracy that Cares") be issuing a statement of consolation later today?
RIP
Musta been it. Walking- unhurriedly- and subsisting on leaves.
I'll take it up with him. But he usually avoids such appeals to emotionalism.
I hope the shell is preserved and displayed. Don't see this kind of thing very often.
Be careful. You may have to apologize for that.
Friend of yours?
Aussie & Harriet
The "youth" appears to be Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi. Harriet had resided at Irwin's zoo.
Didn't know that. Did know via googling that Irwin had custody. Amazing age for a living creature, isn't it?
thanks for posting that great pic of gamera.
imagine what would have happened to evolutionary theory if Darwin had found gamera on the island, instead of a tortoise.!
Have you seen all of the Gamera series?
In the first one, he was made by a nuke blast in the arctic.
In the remake, he was engineered by an ancient civilization to defend against Gyaos.
The latest movie was released in Japan (Called, "Gamera: The Little Braves") this year.
If you haven't yet, go watch the third of the new series, "Revenge of Iris." It is the best in storyline, FX, camerawork and all sorts of other things not seen in these kind of movies before. Excellent movie.
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