Casshew
11-15-2005, 09:09 AM
A tortoise has celebrated his 175th birthday in Australia.
Harriet, a Giant Galapagos tortoise, celebrated her birthday at the zoo in Queensland's Sunshine Coast with a pink hibiscus flower cake.
She weighs 23 stone and is roughly the size of a dinner table reports BBC online.
Some people believe Harriet was studied by British naturalist Charles Darwin.
Darwin took several young Giant Galapagos tortoises back to London after his epic voyage on board HMS Beagle.
Although the animal's exact date of birth is not known, DNA testing has indicated its approximate age.
DNA testing has suggested Harriet was born around 1830, a few years before Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835. However, she belongs to a sub-species of tortoise only found on an island that Darwin never visited.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1612303.html?menu=
Harriet, a Giant Galapagos tortoise, celebrated her birthday at the zoo in Queensland's Sunshine Coast with a pink hibiscus flower cake.
She weighs 23 stone and is roughly the size of a dinner table reports BBC online.
Some people believe Harriet was studied by British naturalist Charles Darwin.
Darwin took several young Giant Galapagos tortoises back to London after his epic voyage on board HMS Beagle.
Although the animal's exact date of birth is not known, DNA testing has indicated its approximate age.
DNA testing has suggested Harriet was born around 1830, a few years before Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835. However, she belongs to a sub-species of tortoise only found on an island that Darwin never visited.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1612303.html?menu=