Vet shares how he pulled oldest animal Jonathan the tortoise back from the brink of death

Jonathan the tortoise was on the brink of death when vet Joe Hollins first met him.

The world’s oldest living land animal was around 180 years old and was skin and bone beneath his gigantic shell.

Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise living within the grounds of the Governor’s mansion on the island of St Helena, couldn’t smell to find his own food and could barely see due to intense cataracts in both his eyes.

It was 2009 and Joe had found himself drafted in to care for Jonathan and the other giant tortoises living at Plantation House.

“I thought we had better prop him up in his old age, I assumed he was on his way out,” he confessed as we chatted to him in our London office when he stopped by to help celebrate the launch of Guinness World Records 2027.

Sitting and observing him, Joe noticed that Jonathan – a Guinness World Records ICON – wasn’t grazing like his pals David and Emma, who would just snip blades of grass with their razor-sharp beaks.

Joe with Jonathan at Plantation House

It was then that Joe had a breakthrough.

He said: “The key thing is the beak, something I didn’t realize until examining the other tortoises, they have grooves in their beak that form saw teeth.

“When you see the others graze grass, they just snip it. His beak was crumbling and soft so he couldn’t graze at all.

Joe feeding Jonathan in 2012

“I started hand feeding him and it became apparent very early on that he was improving dramatically and then after a year or two his beak had regrown and got sharp again. We wear welder’s gloves now when we feed him because he’s very powerful.

“He gained weight and became more active and his libido came back, which is a sign of him being healthy. We had a good laugh about it, but I couldn’t have been more delighted because if his sexual urge came back with the female tortoises, he must have been doing okay.”

Let’s just say, that urge came back a little too strongly, and although Jonathan was now fighting fit with a hearty appetite, he found himself facing death once more.

Former St Helena Governer Mark Capes feeding Jonathan

After attempting to mate with Emma, she tipped him over on to his back and he was unable to flip himself the right way up.

This is very dangerous for tortoises as they do not have a diaphragm and their internal organs can press down on their lungs, leaving them unable to breathe.

Jonathan was found in time, thankfully, and was flipped back over so he could skulk off and think about what he’d done.

From left, Emma, David and Jonathan

Read about more record-breaking creatures in our dedicated Animals section.

He also once got into trouble with his tortoise friend David, who charged at him in a fight for food and could have killed him if the angle had just been that bit more head-on.

But after a couple of close calls, Jonathan, now at least 194 years old, is happily living out his days in the Governor’s Paddock redesigned by Joe and the team with a walk-in bath and a ground-level trough. This means he and his friends can graze until their hearts are content as tourists wander by for a closer look from a much safer distance than they did before.

Jonathan, left, and David

After being rejuvenated by being hand fed, Jonathan still enjoys a bit of royal treatment and there’s even a feeding schedule for Joe – now retired as a vet – and others to take turns giving him his favourite snacks – bananas.

The only trouble is that the sticky fruit often gets stuck on the roof of Jonathan’s mouth and Joe needs to use a long carrot to scrape it off. But he must be quick.

“He bites quite fast,” Joe laughed.

Jonathan in front of Plantation House

“He has very strong legs too. If he does pinch your finger, which doesn’t hurt through the gloves, he thinks the carrot is stuck, so up come these big elephant legs and he swipes across his mouth to dislodge the obstruction, which is your arm.”

Jonathan, or “Jono” as he’s known to the locals, has been living on St Helena since 1882, but it’s believed he was born around the year 1832.

As his age was only estimated due to his size, some people, including Joe, believe he could already be over 200 years old.

Joe and Jonathan take a selfie

“I’m fairly convinced actually,” Joe said.

“Imagine the surface of the Earth, excluding the oceans, everything that lives on and over the land is younger than him.

“He is unique – he’s older than everything, every insect, every mammal, every bird, every amoeba. It’s just extraordinary.

“He’s not only seen many kings and queens come and go, but wars, empires rise up and collapse, including ours, and he’s been completely indifferent to the whole thing.”

A tourist with Jonathan

Joe says looking after the oldest-known animal on Earth has been an absolute privilege, and he’s written about his adventures with Jonathan and other creatures in his book, Vet at the End of the Earth.

He admits, though, that looking after an animal as iconic as Jonathan also comes with a lot of pressure.

Joe told us: “It puts you a little bit on edge, although I’ve gotten over it now, because I’ve been through five governors and all of them have said to me, ‘Not on my watch’.

Joe with Jonathan. Picture by Teeny Lucy.

“It would be a bit like the ravens leaving the Tower of London.”

St Helena has already made preparations for when the sad day comes that Jonathan does leave us.

They have something in place called Operation Go Slow, which will kickstart a series of events, including a National Day of Mourning across the island.

“Hopefully it won’t be for many years,” Joe said.

Just earlier this year, representatives of the island were forced to debunk rumours that Jonathan had died after cruel fake reports were posted on social media.

Thankfully he’s still alive and thriving, thanks in many ways to Joe, who says Jonathan will make his way over to him when he calls his name.

Joe, who is working on his second book while splitting his time between St Helena and the UK, said: “I’ll shout his name, and I don’t know if he knows his name but he knows the sound of it and he’ll buck up. Tortoises have a very rigid face, but I think internally he is smiling.

“He’s quite rigid because of his scales, but I take it from his body language, which is friendly. As soon as he hears my voice he knows I’m a good thing. Maybe it’s just because of the food but it doesn’t matter, I love him.

“He’s a part of me now.”

All images by Joe Hollins unless otherwise stated.