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June 24, 2006
Harriet, I barely knew thee
Just spent some time checking the CBC website cause I like to keep up on news at home, and world news for that matter. It's sort of odd then, that I found out about some Australian news through the CBC site; part of the magic of global media and the shrinking world. The CBC tipped me off to the story but I decided to check out the Australia Zoo site for some more details.
From Australia Zoo
Media Alert –23rd June 2006
AN AUSTRALIA ZOO LEGEND DIES
Harriet, Australia Zoo’s 176-year-old Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise has passed away today. Harriet held the Guinness World Record for being the oldest living animal in captivity. It is believed that Harriet was collected by Sir Charles Darwin in 1835 from the Galapagos
Islands which resulted in his scientific research of the Theory of 
Evolution. Harriet has been a major attraction and resident at Australia Zoo since the mid-eighties after a colourful and historic past. Her favourite food was hibiscus flowers. Steve Irwin said today on the passing of Harriet:
"Harriet has been a huge chunk of the Irwin family's life. I have grown up with this gorgeous old girl and so have my kids.
“She is possibly one of the oldest living creatures on the planet and her passing today is not only a great loss for the world but a very sad day for my family. She was a grand old lady."
I was lucky enough to have visited the zoo several months ago and did indeed get a chance to briefly meet the world's oldest living animal (in captivity). It might not mean anything to a lot of people and it's not going to change my life or anything like that, but to someone who enjoys science as I do, I consider it a rare privilege to have shared some time with an animal that did the same with Charles Darwin.
Posted by Dr.Unk at June 24, 2006 2:35 AM
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