World's oldest tortoise very much alive despite death rumors

LONDON (AP) — Reports of the death of the world’s oldest living land animal — a nearly 200-year-old tortoise — were greatly exaggerated.

Jonathan, believed to be 193, is still kicking — albeit slowly — on the island of St. Helena.

“It was a hoax,” Anne Dillon, head of communications on the island, told The Associated Press on Thursday about his alleged passing. “I don’t have all those details, I can just assure you that he is very much alive.”

News of the tortoise's demise spread rapidly on social media on April Fool's Day.

An account on X, falsely claiming to be that of Joe Hollins, a veterinarian who had worked with the reptile on the island west of Africa in the south Atlantic Ocean, said he was heartbroken to announce the death of the “gentle giant” that “outlived empires, wars, and generations of humans.”

The post quickly accumulated nearly 2 million views through Thursday, mostly an outpouring of condolences.

But Hollins later said on Facebook that he didn't even have an X account and something more sinister was afoot.

“There is a hoax — not even an April Fool — going around,” Hollins wrote. “The hoaxer is asking for crypto donations. It’s a con.”

Guinness World Records lists Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, as the oldest living land animal and oldest tortoise ever. He was believed to be about 50 years old when he was brought to St. Helena in 1882.

Dillon said the tortoise was still roaming the grounds of the governor's residence on the island best known as the place Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to following his defeat by the British at Waterloo in 1815.

Bonaparte died there in 1821, about a decade before Jonathan is believed to have taken the first steps in what would become a very long life.