The San Diego Zoo’s oldest resident, a Galapagos tortoise, believed to be about 141 years old, has died

The San Diego Zoo’s oldest resident has died, leaving whoever cared for him no longer alive.

Zoo officials said Gramma, the Galapagos tortoise, was born in her native habitat and was estimated to be about 141 years old at the time of her death. He died on Thursday.

It’s not clear exactly when the tortoise arrived at the San Diego Zoo, but zoo officials said he came from the Bronx Zoo in 1928 or 1931 as part of the first group of Galapagos tortoises.

As the world changed around her, she delighted visitors with her sweet, shy personality. She lived through two world wars and 20 American presidents.

‘Queen of the Zoo’

Her caregivers affectionately called her “the queen of the zoo.” The zoo said she was suffering from age-related bone problems, which had recently worsened, before she was euthanized.

Many visitors commented on social media that they first visited Gramma when they were younger, and were able to return with their children years later.

Christina Park, 69, said one of her earliest childhood memories was going to the San Diego Zoo when she was three or four years old and riding on the back of a turtle. This is no longer allowed, but the experience inspired him to keep a small desert tortoise as a pet and learn more about tortoise conservation.

“It’s amazing that they managed to endure so much,” Park said. “And yet they’re still there.”

back from the brink of extinction

The Galapagos tortoises include 15 subspecies of tortoises from the islands, three of which were thought to be extinct. The rest are vulnerable or critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

According to the Galapagos Conservancy, concerted efforts have been made to breed these tortoises in captivity over the past several decades, with more than 10,000 juveniles released into the wild since 1965. Some subspecies have been brought back from the brink of extinction.

In April, four Galapagos tortoises were born to first-time parents at the Philadelphia Zoo, who lived to be nearly 100 years old, a first in the zoo’s history. In June, Zoo Miami resident and Galapagos tortoise Goliath became a father for the first time at the age of 135.

Galapagos tortoises can live for over 100 years in the wild, and almost twice that in captivity.

The oldest known Galapagos tortoise was named Harriet, who lived at the Australia Zoo until she was 175 years old. According to the zoo, he was collected from the Galapagos Islands in 1835, when he was just the size of a dinner plate.

This means that she was born around 1830 and died in 2006.

Look Became a mother for the first time at the age of almost 100:

#The moment an endangered turtle became a mother for the first time at the age of almost 100

Philadelphia Zoo’s Rachel Metz remembers the moment ‘Mommy’ – a 97-year-old western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise – gave birth to four new babies, becoming the oldest known first-time mother of her species.