{"id":214235,"date":"2026-06-18T10:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/yes-jonathan-the-tortoise-is-still-alive-and-hes-a-guinness-icon-now-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:42:22","slug":"yes-jonathan-the-tortoise-is-still-alive-and-hes-a-guinness-icon-now-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/yes-jonathan-the-tortoise-is-still-alive-and-hes-a-guinness-icon-now-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Jonathan the tortoise is still alive, and he's a Guinness icon now – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan the tortoise<\/a>, the ancient reptile mistakenly declared dead back on April Fools’ Day, is not only still alive, but has earned another accolade.
Born before 1832 \u2013 thus, he’s at least 194 years old \u2013 Jonathan is the oldest living land animal<\/a> and has been named a Guinness World Records Icon<\/a>, the organization said June 17.
A Seychelles giant tortoise, estimated to have been at least 50 years old in 1882 when he was brought to the South Atlantic island of St. Helena, Jonathan is likely even older as his age is “a conservative estimate,” according to Guinness. The average life expectancy of his species is 150.
Jonathan was a gift to the future governor of St. Helena, which is a British Overseas\u00a0Territory, and has lived on the grounds of the governor’s residence, the Plantation House mansion,\u00a0according to\u00a0Smithsonian magazine<\/a>.
In a video posted on social media platform X<\/a> by Guinness World Records, Jonathan appears to give the GWR Icon award a quick glance and then move on. Later, he’s seen munching some carrots.
The oldest-known terrestrial animal, Jonathan was stalking the planet before the first photographs (1838) and telephone calls were made (1876) and before the completion of the Eiffel Tower (1887), Guinness notes.
Amid April Fools’ Day earlier this year, there were false claims of Jonathan’s death<\/a> on social media. That didn’t seem to bother “Ol’ Jono,” as he’s referred to locally. “He happily spends his days with three other tortoises in the gardens of the Governor\u2019s residence, eating grass and basking in the sunshine,” Guinness says<\/a>.
Jonathan “has met royalty, starred in wedding photographs, and delighted tourists,” said Saint Helena Gov. Nigel Phillips in a news release. “He is a symbol of the enduring resilience of this island and its commitment to protecting the environment. It is entirely appropriate that he has as his home the paddock of the Governor\u2019s Residence. He is very much the brightest icon of this jewel in the South Atlantic.\u201d
As one of the Guinness World Records Icons<\/a>, Jonathan joins “a select group of record-holders whose achievements have transcended their field and inspired people across the globe,” Guinness said in the news release.
The other Guinness World Records Icons named June 17 by the organization were humans:
“We’re proud to call these extraordinary individuals GWR ICONS. Here are record holders who’ve transcended theirrecords to become part of global culture,” said Craig Glenday, editor in chief at Guinness World Records, in the news release. “It’s not always about celebrating that single superlative moment\u2026 with the ICONS, it’s about recognizing and honouring the long-lasting impact these inspirational people leave on the world.”
Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund<\/em>
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at \u00a0<\/em>mikegsnider<\/em><\/a> \u00a0& \u00a0<\/em>@mikegsnider.bsky.social<\/em><\/a> \u00a0& \u00a0<\/em>@mikesnider<\/em><\/a> & msnider@usatoday.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan the tortoise, the ancient reptile mistakenly declared dead back on April Fools’ Day, is not only still alive, but has earned another accolade.Born before 1832 \u2013 thus, he’s at least 194 years old \u2013 Jonathan is the oldest living land animal and has been named a Guinness World Records Icon, the organization said June […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}