Jonathan the tortoise, about 190 years old, has survived a fight that left his rival flipped on his back
The St. Helena 5 pence coin shows Jonathan, a roughly 190 year old tortoise
St. Helena's 5 pence coin features Jonathan, a tortoise around 190 years old and the island's most famous resident. In July 2023, his companion Fredrik was flipped onto his back during a fight and left to die out of sight; a visiting vet, Joe Hollins, spotted and righted him in time. Earlier, David ended up upside down after a failed mating attempt with Emma. Tortoise life, it turns out, is wilder than anyone expected.
In July 2023 there was a fight between David and Fredrik which resulted in Fredrik being turned onto his back and left to die, in an area where his plight would not have been visible from the house or the tortoise viewing area.
- berlam
> In July 2023 there was a fight between David and Fredrik which resulted in Fredrik being turned onto his back and left to die, in an area where his plight would not have been visible from the house or the tortoise viewing area. Fortunately he was spotted in time by visiting vet Joe Hollins, who turned Fredrik the right way up with no long-lasting ill effects. This is apparently not the first time recently when a tortoise has been turned over, though in the other occasion it was David who finished the wrong way up, not after a fight but after an unsuccessful attempt to mount Emma for mating purposes…
His companions. Never thought tortoises have such a wild life.
- wand3r
Tangentially related gripe: Cloudflare has ruined the internet. I can't even read an article about a turtle using a US VPN with US IPs without solving 2 captchas. I assume some uptick is the amount of scraping labs are doing as well as a plethora of tools and bots made with AI, but it is extremely annoying how consolidated players dictate what is possible on the internet and there is no escape from surveillance capitalism. These little bits of friction add up.
Edit: I was using the VPN. The turtle was not using the VPN
- dang
Related. Others?
'Jonathan' is the oldest land animal on Earth - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49998066 - Oct 2026 (164 comments)
Jonathan the 190-Year-Old Tortoise Was Photographed in 1886 and Today - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30099606 - Jan 2022 (77 comments)
- mberning
It is my dream to someday travel to St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha.
- nephihaha
My father met Jonathan many decades ago. Jonathan has outlived him by quite some margin.