Saint Helena: Tortoises at Plantation House
Even more important then all the historic stuff at the Plantation House are the four giant tortoises free-roaming its premises and gardens. The oldest of the four is Jonathan, and he is the world’s oldest turtle at supposedly 194 years old!. Jonathan was brought to St Helena in 1882 from the Seychelles as a present to the then-governor. Jonathan has witnessed almost 200 years of the island’s history, he is still quite agile and alive and kicking, although partially blind. The other three tortoises are David, Emma, and Fredricka. David, also a Seychelles giant tortoise, was brought in 1991 as another gift. Fredricka and Emma were introduced in 2017 as female companions to the two males, but both are actually not Seychelles giant tortoises, but rather a different species – Radiated Tortoises. So no mating is possible even theoretically. Furthermore, it later turned out that Fredricka is actually a male and he was remained to Frederick.
