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Jonathan the 194-Year-Old Tortoise: Older Than the Light Bulb!

2026-10-10 · Watch on YouTube

Summary

Meet Jonathan, a giant tortoise who hatched around 1832, before the telephone, the light bulb or the pedal bicycle were invented! Travel through time with the oldest land animal alive today, find out what he loves to eat on the faraway island of St Helena, and discover the clues scientists have found about why tortoises live so long.

Transcript

0:00Meet Jonathan

Imagine meeting someone who was already a grown-up before anyone on Earth had ever made a phone call. Sounds impossible, right? Well, get ready, because that someone is real, he is alive right now, and he is munching on a cucumber as we speak! His name is Jonathan. Jonathan is a giant tortoise, and he is about 194 years old. That makes him the oldest land animal alive on our whole planet. Not the oldest dog. Not the oldest cat. The oldest of ALL the animals that live on land. Wow! Think about how old your grandparents are. Now imagine adding their ages together, and then adding a few more birthdays on top. Jonathan would probably still be older! He lives on a tiny island called St Helena, far out in the middle of the ocean. He spends his days strolling across the grass, soaking up the sunshine, and eating snacks. Honestly, that sounds like a pretty great life. But how did one tortoise end up living for almost two hundred years? And what has he seen along the way? Stick with me, because Jonathan's story is full of surprises, and the first one starts way, way back in time.

1:04Hatched Around 1832

Let's travel back in time. Close your eyes and picture the year 1832. That's when scientists think Jonathan hatched out of his egg. A baby giant tortoise is surprisingly small. When Jonathan wriggled out of his egg, he was probably about the size of your palm, and he weighed less than an apple! Can you imagine? The giant tortoise who is now heavier than two grown-ups put together started out as a tiny, wobbly little hatchling. Here's a funny thing, though. Nobody wrote down Jonathan's birthday. There was no party, no cake, no candles. Baby tortoises don't come with a birth certificate! So how do we know he hatched around 1832? Scientists became detectives. They found an old photograph of Jonathan taken in the 1880s. In that picture, he was already fully grown. Giant tortoises take about fifty years to grow to their full size. So if Jonathan was a grown-up in the 1880s, he must have hatched about fifty years earlier. Add it all up, and you get around 1832. Clever, right? And the world back then was VERY different from the world you know. Wait until you hear what was missing!

2:09A World Without Phones

When Jonathan was a baby, there were no telephones anywhere in the world. Not a single one! If you wanted to talk to a friend in another town, you had to write a letter and wait days, or even weeks, for an answer. The telephone wasn't invented until 1876. By then, Jonathan was already about forty-four years old! What about light bulbs? Nope, none of those either. When the sun went down, people lit candles or oil lamps so they could see. A light bulb that could glow for hours didn't show up until 1879. And bicycles? The kind with pedals that you ride to the park hadn't been invented yet. Kids in 1832 walked, or rode in carts pulled by horses. No cars. No airplanes. No television. No video games. And definitely no internet! So while Jonathan was a young tortoise nibbling on leaves, people all over the world were busy inventing things we now use every single day. Jonathan has quietly watched all of it happen, one slow step at a time. But wait, where exactly did Jonathan grow up? The answer might surprise you, because he wasn't born on St Helena at all!

3:14From the Seychelles

Jonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise. That's a type of tortoise that comes from a group of islands called the Seychelles, way over in the Indian Ocean. These islands have white sandy beaches, bright blue water, and lots of green trees. It's a perfect home for giant tortoises, who love warm weather and plenty of plants to eat. Wow-fact time: one group of islands in the Seychelles, called Aldabra, is home to around one hundred thousand giant tortoises! That's more tortoises than people in lots of towns. Imagine walking along and seeing tortoises everywhere you look, like big, slow-moving rocks. When Jonathan was still young, he left the warm islands where he hatched. Back then, sailors sometimes carried giant tortoises on their ships from place to place. Jonathan went on a long, long voyage across the oceans. He sailed past Africa and into a completely different ocean, the Atlantic. Can you picture a tortoise on a sailing ship, watching the waves go by? Finally, in the year 1882, he arrived at his brand new home. And trust me, this home is one of the most faraway places on the entire planet. Want to see it?

4:21Island of St Helena

Welcome to St Helena! This little island sits right in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. It's so far from everywhere else that it's one of the most remote places where people live. The nearest big piece of land, Africa, is almost two thousand kilometres away. That's like driving from one end of a big country to the other, except it's all water! The island is small, too. You could drive all the way across it in less than an hour. It has tall green hills, steep rocky cliffs, and little colorful houses. Here's a wow-fact: until about ten years ago, St Helena didn't have an airport. The only way to get there was by ship, and the trip took about five days! Imagine being on a boat for five whole days just to visit. You'd have to pack a LOT of books. Today, around four thousand people live on St Helena. And every single one of them knows about their most famous neighbor. Jonathan lives in the big, grassy garden of an old stone house on the island. He's been there for more than one hundred and forty years! So what does a super-old tortoise do all day? Let's find out.

5:24A Day with Jonathan

Jonathan's daily routine is pretty relaxed. In the morning, he warms up in the sunshine. Tortoises are cold-blooded, which means their bodies don't make their own heat like yours does. So when it's chilly, Jonathan feels slow and sleepy. He needs the sun to warm him up, kind of like a solar-powered battery! Once he's toasty, he goes for a stroll across the lawn. And when I say stroll, I mean STROLL. Giant tortoises usually walk at less than half a kilometre an hour. You could easily walk ten times faster than him without even trying. On hot afternoons, Jonathan might find a shady spot to rest. When the weather gets cooler, he slows down even more and spends extra time resting, cozy and still. And at night? He sleeps, just like you. Jonathan has other tortoise friends in the garden, too. Some of them are named David, Emma, and Fred. They share the lawn and munch on grass together. But the best part of Jonathan's day? That's snack time. And Jonathan has some very strong opinions about his food!

6:22Snack Time Favorites

Jonathan is a big fan of fresh fruit and vegetables. Once a week, a vet visits him with a special feast. And what's on the menu? Cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, apples, bananas, and lettuce. Yum! Jonathan especially loves bananas. Some people say he gets very excited when he hears his snacks are coming. Here's the clever part. Jonathan is now blind, which means he can't see anymore, and he has also lost his sense of smell. So how does he find his food? His caretakers hand-feed him! They hold the food right up to his mouth, and he takes big, crunchy bites. Chomp, chomp, chomp! Why the special feast? Because the grass in the garden isn't quite enough for an old tortoise. The extra fruit and veggies give him vitamins and energy to keep him healthy and strong. Think about that. Jonathan eats his vegetables every single week, and he's 194 years old. Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere! Next time someone puts broccoli on your plate, just remember Jonathan. But wait, how does Jonathan stay so tough after all this time? Part of the secret is right there on his back.

7:23The Amazing Shell

Let's talk about Jonathan's shell, because it's seriously amazing. A lot of people think a tortoise can slip out of its shell, like taking off a coat. But that's not true at all! A tortoise's shell is actually part of its skeleton. It's joined to its backbone and its ribs. So the shell grows along with the tortoise, its whole life long. The shell has two main parts. The top part, which is curved like a dome, is called the carapace. The flat bottom part, under the tortoise's tummy, is called the plastron. On the outside, the shell is covered in big tiles called scutes. Here's your wow-fact: scutes are made of keratin. That's the very same stuff your fingernails are made of! So if you tap your fingernail, you're tapping the same material as a tortoise shell. Pretty cool, right? Under the scutes is strong bone. Together, they make a sturdy, helmet-like home that protects the tortoise from bumps and knocks. When a giant tortoise feels shy, it can pull its head and legs in close. But a shell can't explain everything about living to 194. Something else is going on inside. Let's take a look!

8:26Slow and Steady Secrets

So why do giant tortoises live so long? Scientists are still working on the whole answer, but they have some great clues. Clue number one: tortoises do everything slowly. Their hearts beat slowly. Your heart beats about seventy to one hundred times every minute. A giant tortoise's heart can beat as few as six times a minute! Try counting to six slowly. That's about how calm a tortoise's heart is. Clue number two: their bodies use energy very slowly. Scientists call this a slow metabolism. It means a tortoise's body doesn't rush. It can go a long time without food, and it doesn't wear itself out quickly. Clue number three: tortoises have that tough shell, which keeps them safe from bumps and bad weather. And clue number four: tortoise bodies seem to be very good at looking after themselves. Scientists have found that some tortoises seem to age much more slowly than most other animals. Isn't that incredible? So the tortoise motto might be: take it easy, eat your greens, and enjoy the sunshine. Not bad advice! But just how old is 194, really? Let's line up some birthdays and see how Jonathan compares.

9:29How Old Is 194?

Let's compare Jonathan to some other animals. A pet hamster lives about two or three years. A dog usually lives around twelve to fifteen years. A cat might reach fifteen or even twenty. Horses can live about thirty years. Elephants? Around sixty or seventy. People often live to around eighty, and some lucky people reach one hundred! Now picture all those ages lined up side by side, like rows of candles on birthday cakes. Jonathan's row of candles would stretch way past all of them! Here's a mind-blowing way to think about it. If a dog lives about fifteen years, then Jonathan has been around for about thirteen dog lifetimes in a row! And a birthday cake with 194 candles would need to be as big as a table. You'd need a LOT of breath to blow them all out. Maybe ask a few friends to help! If you're eight years old right now, Jonathan is more than twenty-four times older than you. Whoa! In 2022, Jonathan officially became the oldest tortoise ever recorded, not just the oldest one alive today. So he's breaking records just by having birthdays! Speaking of birthdays, does Jonathan ever get a birthday party? You bet he does!

10:39Birthday Celebrations

Since nobody knows Jonathan's real birthday, the people of St Helena picked one for him. They celebrate on the fourth of December. When Jonathan turned around 190 in 2022, the island threw him a special celebration! And what do you give a tortoise for his birthday? A cake, of course! But not a cake made of flour and sugar. Jonathan's birthday treat was made of his favorite foods, fruits and vegetables piled up and arranged to look like a party cake. Imagine a cake made of cucumber, lettuce, and fruit. For Jonathan, that's the yummiest cake in the world! People even made special postage stamps with Jonathan's picture on them. Wow-fact: Jonathan appears on one of St Helena's coins, too. Imagine being so famous that you end up on money! Visitors from all over the world come to the island hoping to see him. They take photos from a respectful distance, because Jonathan is old and needs his peace and quiet. He's like a gentle celebrity who just wants to eat lunch. But here's something even more amazing. Think about all the changes Jonathan has lived through. Let's take a giant trip through time!

11:44Inventions He Outlived

Let's walk through Jonathan's life like a timeline. Ready? In 1832, little Jonathan hatches. Around the same time, people are traveling on some of the very first steam trains, puffing smoke as they chug along. In 1876, when Jonathan is about forty-four, the telephone is invented. In 1879, the long-lasting light bulb begins to glow. In 1882, Jonathan arrives on St Helena. A few years later, the bicycle with two same-size wheels and a chain gets popular, a lot like the one you might ride today. In 1903, when Jonathan is about seventy-one, the first airplane flies for just twelve seconds! Then come cars on the roads, radios in homes, and later, televisions. In 1969, when Jonathan is about one hundred and thirty-seven, astronauts walk on the Moon! And then computers, the internet, smartphones, and tablets arrive. Jonathan was there for every single one. He didn't use any of them, of course. Tortoises aren't great at texting. Their feet are a little too big for the buttons! But he lived through them all. Now here's a fun question: what is Jonathan like as a friend? His caretakers have discovered some sweet things about his personality.

12:57Jonathan's Personality

Even though Jonathan can't see or smell, his hearing is still great. He knows the voice of his vet, and when he hears it, he often lifts his head and comes closer. It's a little bit like how a dog runs to the door when you come home! People who look after Jonathan say he's gentle and calm, but he also has a bit of a cheeky side. Sometimes, when he's busy and doesn't want to be disturbed, he'll simply ignore everyone and keep munching. Fair enough, right? We all like to finish our lunch in peace. He also seems to really enjoy a gentle stroke on his neck. He stretches his long neck out as if to say, ah, that's nice. Wow-fact: over the years, many different people have taken turns looking after Jonathan, like passing a baton in a relay race. Each new caretaker learns his routine, his favorite snacks, and the best spot for a neck stroke. That's teamwork across more than a hundred years! So Jonathan is famous, ancient, and adorable. But are there other creatures out there that live even longer? Let's go exploring!

13:54Other Long-Lived Creatures

Jonathan is the oldest land animal alive today. But notice that word: land. Down in the deep, chilly ocean, there are some creatures that may live even longer! Bowhead whales, giant whales that live in icy Arctic waters, can live for more than two hundred years. Scientists figured this out by studying their eyes, which is pretty clever detective work. Then there's a little clam called the ocean quahog. One of these clams was found to be over five hundred years old! Scientists can count the lines on its shell, a bit like counting the rings inside a tree trunk. And speaking of trees, some trees are thousands of years old! There's a type of pine tree high in the mountains that can live for more than four thousand years. Some of those trees are even older than the great pyramids of Egypt. Back on land, other giant tortoises can also live well over one hundred years. So Jonathan is part of a family of champion birthday-havers. But out of all the land animals alive today, Jonathan is still number one. Gold medal, Jonathan! Now, what can we all learn from this wise old tortoise? Let's wrap it all up.

14:59Recap and Challenge

Wow, what a journey! Let's quickly recap the coolest things we learned today. Jonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise who hatched around 1832. That's before the telephone, the light bulb, and the pedal bicycle were invented! He sailed all the way across the oceans and arrived on the tiny island of St Helena in 1882. He loves cucumbers, cabbage, apples, and bananas, and his caretakers feed him by hand. His shell is part of his skeleton, and its outer tiles are made of the same stuff as your fingernails. His slow, calm heart and slow, steady body may be part of his long-life secret. And he's the oldest land animal alive today, and the oldest tortoise ever recorded! Here's your fun challenge. Tonight at dinner, ask your family this question: what do you think was invented after Jonathan hatched? Let everyone guess, and then amaze them with the answer. Telephones, light bulbs, airplanes, cars, and even the internet! Then, if you like, crunch a cucumber slice in Jonathan's honor. Remember, being slow and steady isn't a bad thing at all. Sometimes it's the secret to a long and happy life. Take care, keep being curious, and see you next time, friends!

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Series: science (English)