St. Helena, an island in the Atlantic Ocean near Africa, celebrated Jonathan’s birthday last week. Jonathan is a giant tortoise who turned 190 years old and is the oldest living animal on land.
Jonathan has lived most of his life at the governor’s house on the island. To celebrate the special event, the governor’s house opened for three days so visitors could wish Jonathan a happy birthday.
The local government of St. Helena also made commemorative postage stamps for people to buy. Jonathan has also been on the local currency.
There is no record of Jonathan’s birth date, but many believe he was born around the year 1832. He was brought to St. Helena from the Seychelles in 1882 as a gift to a politician.
Guinness World Records says that Jonathan is the oldest tortoise ever. The previous oldest tortoise was Tu’i Malila which lived for around 188 years but died in 1965.
Because of his age, Jonathan is now blind and cannot smell. However, his hearing is excellent, according to Guinness World Records. Jonathan’s energy depends on the weather.
Jonathan’s veterinarian, Joe Hollins, says that the tortoise likes to lie in the sun on warm days and cover up in leaves and grass on cold days. He also says that Jonathan is active with his tortoise friends, Emma and Fred.
VOCABULARY
- Celebrate – to mark or remember an important event, especially with enjoyable activities
- Tortoise – a really big “turtle”; 🐢
- Governor – the leader or person in charge of a state, region or large area of a country
- Wish someone a happy birthday – to say “happy birthday” to someone
- Local – related to or connected to a specific/particular place; existing in or belonging to the area that you are talking about.
- Commemorative – done or made to officially remember and give respect to a great person or event; in honor of; celebratory
- Postage stamp – a small piece of paper you buy to send a letter or package
- Currency – the type of money that is used in a particular country (dollars, euros, pounds, yen, etc.)
- Record – information or a description of an event that is written on paper or stored on a computer; documentation; evidence
- Politician – a person who works in politics; a person who works in the government
- Previous – coming or occurring before something else; existing before in time or order; preceding
- Blind – unable to see; visually impared; eyes don’t work; no vision
- According to – as ‘someone’ said; as stated by ‘someone’; in the opinion of ‘someone’
- Depends on – o be determined or decided by something; to be affected by someone or something
- Veterinarian – animal doctor; doctor for animals
- Leaf (leaves) – 🍂 🍁Active – able to do something physically; move around; mobile; energetic
Original story from CNN below:
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