- Adwaita
Adwaita (meaning "one and only" in Sanskrit) (c.
1750 –23 March 2006 ) was the name of a maleAldabra Giant Tortoise in theAlipore Zoological Gardens ofKolkata ,India . He was the oldest living animal in Kolkata.History
"Historical records show he was a pet of British General Robert Clive of the East India Company and had spent several years in his sprawling estate before he was brought to the zoo about 130 years ago." [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4837988.stm Jogesh Barman, Forestry minister, West Bengal Government] ] It is said that the Aldabra tortoise was a gift to Clive from the British seafarers who captured the tortoise from the
Seychelles Islands. Reports show that Clive had four such tortoises in his villa in Latbagan atBarrackpore , in the suburbs of Kolkata. Three of the animals died, while Adwaita was transferred to the Alipore zoo in 1875 byCarl Louis Schwendler , the founder of the zoo. Adwaita had lived in his enclosure in the zoo until his death in 2006.Description
Weighing 250 kgs. (550 lb.), Adwaita was a bachelor. There are no records of his progeny or
liaison s. He lived on a diet of wheat bran, carrot, lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass and salt. The shell of the tortoise cracked and a wound had developed some months before his death fromliver failure in March 2006.Age dispute
There is dispute regarding the exact age of Adwaita. While some records show his age was at least 150 years, others believe he was 250 years old. Again, some sources say the tortoise was born in 1750. Unfortunately, none of these records are reliable. [ [http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060323-105935-4122r UPI report] ]
If the age is determined to be 250 years, as claimed by many sources, Adwaita would be one of the oldest creatures of modern times, beating Harriet by 80 years, and
Tu'i Malila , the current recordholder for the certified oldest vertebrate, by 67 years.Notes
External links
* [http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13735319&headline=Kolkata~toasts~255-year-old~resident The Pioneer article, 6 May, 2005]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4837988.stm BBC report on the death of the tortoise]
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