Charles Darwin's tortoise dies

[brainshrub]

Giant Galapagos tortoise Harriet has died of a suspected heart attack.

She was a star attraction at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo since the 1980s and even features in the Guinness Book of Records for her longevity.

Her history is as colourful as the hibiscus flowers she lovingly munched on.

It is believed Harriet was one of three animals naturalist Charles Darwin brought back from his trip to the Galapagos Islands in 1835 and which led to his theories of evolution and natural selection.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19566724-2,00.html

[Akoto]

1. Oh, that's sad. :( She led quite a life, and a long one!

176 years of crawling around and snacking on hibiscus flowers. Must've been a happy life, at least by big ol' tortoise standards. :) I suppose that makes up for a century of people mistaking her for a boy!

[Posteritatis]

26. That's why I *don't* consider it sad, actually

All things told, most critters could only dream of a run like that. If your lifespan plunks you in three seperate centuries due to a low stress level, I don't think you've lived a life which requires much mourning. ;)

[truthpusher]

30. Picture of Harriet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise

go to the link, click on the photo on the bottom left...scroll down and read the description...

[CottonBear]

2. RIP Harriet.

Oh, if that tortoise could have talked she could have told some amazing stories.

[Botany]

3. RIP Harriet

Harriet the Tortoise

[Roland99]

4. Harriet. Sweet Harriet. So lov-ed.

[poverlay]

8. LMAO~ Well played sir, yes ... well played!

[Roland99]

12. *takes bow*

Although, I wonder if any Fund-A-Mental cases will dismiss her as a Jesus turtle?

[poverlay]

24. Apparently they only are allowed to be 120 yrs max, so probably not.

Some kind of damn heathen tortoise.
Too late to pray for a conversion, but there's always plenty of tssking to do after the fact...

[IChing]

5. It proves evolution and natural selection are just a theory

She didn't evolve into a higher life form such as a rabbit after 170 years.

[domlaw]

13. It proves evolution and natural selection are just a theory

Actually from what I've read 150 yrs ago she was a Republican and evolved into a Democrat. Hence proving that, with time, all life evolves into a higher life form.

[ShortnFiery]

19. "all life evolves into a higher life form" Republican to Democrat!

Yes! :applause:

Bless you Harriet! RIP

*At 176, you've earned it! ;)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

6. Maybe if we all spent more time in shells on our back

and ate only flowers and moved really slow we, too, could live to be her age.

I'm working on it.

[IndyOp]

11. LOL! Thanks TG... ;-) .....n/t

[roguevalley]

7. ah. poor baby.

[MrPrax]

9. Humbling and Sublime eom

[grilled onions]

10. Will the Slowskys send a turtlegram?

Seriously I hope she finds a wonderful new home beyond Rainbow Bridge.

[Mr_Spock]

14. She was 176 for those who are most interested in her age.

As I was...

[ps1074]

15. That is so sad

She was a beautiful animal. I remember seeing pics from her last birthday. :cry:

RIP Harriet

[mikelgb]

16. 1830 was a very good year...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1830

Births

* February 3 - Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (d. 1903)
* February 9 - Abd al-Aziz, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1876)
* March 15 - Paul von Heyse, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
* August 18 - Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (d. 1916)
* September 2 - William P. Frye, American politician (d. 1911)
* September 8 - Frédéric Mistral, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
* September 15 - Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico (d. 1915)
* November 15 - Harriet the Galapagos tortoise; as of 2006 the world's oldest living animal. (d.2006)
* December 10 - Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
* Mary Hunt, American activist (d. 1906)

[LostinVA]

17. Right after her birthday, too

Well Irwin's zoo is very nice, so she at least lived out her last days in a well-kept, caring environment.

[daleo]

18. Fundamentalists say "this proves evolution is wrong"

After all, now that this tortoise is dead there is nobody left who can prove that Darwin ever really existed.

[brainshrub]

23. Very true.

Praise Jesus! The demon Harriet is dead! Now we can get rid of evil-ution from the schools.

[frankenforpres]

20. i saw harriet last summer

very sad news

[Raine]

21. R-I-P Harriet

I have two tortoises but they're mere babies compared to her the boy is about 50 and the girl is around 35. Tortoises are such sweet gentle creatures. :loveya:

[Lisa]

22. I'm glad she escaped being eaten!

Back in the days when Harriet was a youngster, sailing ships used to stop by the Galapagos Islands to collect giant tortoises ... in most cases, not for scientific interest, but because turtle soup was a delicacy (at least, when compared with the mouldy hardtack and salt beef that were the usual rations). An historian told me that the tortoises were kept in the ship's hold (dark, damp, and probably nobody bothered to bring them food and water, let alone fresh hibiscus flowers!). And then they would be eaten during the voyage -- kind of like an early form of "canned provisions". At the end of the trip, the leftover surviving tortoises would be sold to zoos or given as gifts to dignitaries.

I am glad that the world changed enough during Harriet's lifetime that situations such as this would create a public outcry today -- and are now against the law (the Galapagos Islands are one of the most famous protected areas in the world). And that people would rather see Harriet's relatives on TV, in their natural habitat, than make them into soup! So some good things have happened in the past century and a half ...

[BrotherBuzz]

27. The damn sailors didn't even think they needed food or drink

Owen Chase (1798-1869) First Mate of the whale ship Essex, that was struck and sunk by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820 (who says there is no such thing as just desserts?) wrote:

on the 2d October (1820) we set sail for the Gallipagos Islands. We came to anchor, and laid seven days off Hood's Island, one of the group; during which time we stopped a leak which we had discovered, and obtained three hundred turtle. We then visited Charles Island, where we procured sixty more. These turtle are a most delicious food, and average in weight generally about one hundred pounds, but many of them weigh upwards of eight hundred. With these, ships usually supply themselves for a great length of time, and make a great saving of other provisions. They neither eat nor drink, nor is the least pains taken with them; they are strewed over the deck, thrown under foot, or packed away in the hold, as suits convenience. They will live upwards of a year without food, but soon die in a cold climate. We left Charles Island on the 23d of October, and steered off to the westward, in search of whales.

http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/NICKERSON.HTM

[zara]

25. Imagine that. A tortoise owned by Charles Darwin.

[yellowcanine]

28. Did she denounce evolution and atheism before she died?

Fire Insurance.

[IChing]

29. No, but Pinky the Hare did and lost that race with the tortoise.

A long time ago.

[entanglement]

31. RIP

[calimary]

32. My husband said this story proves the secret of longevity:

SLOW the HELL DOWN!!!


RIP, Harriet. Hugs to you!