Gramma the Galapagos tortoise, oldest resident of San Diego Zoo, dies at about 141

LOS ANGELES -- After much than a period of munching connected her favourite foods of romaine lettuce and cactus fruit, beloved Galapagos tortoise Gramma, the oldest nonmigratory of the San Diego Zoo, has died.

Gramma was calved successful her autochthonal situation and was estimated to beryllium astir 141 years old, zoo officials said. She died Nov. 20.

It's not wide precisely erstwhile the tortoise arrived astatine the San Diego Zoo, but zoo officials said she came from the Bronx Zoo successful either 1928 oregon 1931 arsenic portion of their archetypal radical of Galapagos tortoises.

This photograph provided by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance shows Gramma, a Galapagos tortoise and the oldest carnal astatine the San Diego Zoo, eating a banana stalk May 17, 2023.

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance via AP

As the satellite changed astir her, she delighted visitors with her sweet, shy personality. She lived done 2 World Wars and 20 U.S. presidents.

Her attraction specialists affectionately called her "the Queen of the Zoo." She was suffering from bony conditions related to her aged property that progressed precocious earlier she was euthanized, the zoo said.

Many visitors commented connected societal media astir getting to archetypal sojourn Gramma erstwhile they were young, and being capable to travel backmost years aboriginal with their kids.

Cristina Park, 69, said 1 of her earliest memories from her puerility was going to the San Diego Zoo erstwhile she was 3 oregon 4 years aged and riding connected the backmost of a tortoise. That's nary longer allowed, but the acquisition inspired her to support a tiny godforsaken tortoise arsenic a favored and larn much astir tortoise conservation.

"Just however astonishing it is that they managed to unrecorded done truthful much," Park said. "And yet they're inactive there."

Galapagos tortoises tin unrecorded for implicit 100 years successful the wild, and adjacent to treble that successful captivity.

The oldest known Galapagos tortoise was named Harriet, who lived astatine the Australia Zoo until the property of 175. She was collected from the Galapagos Islands successful 1835, erstwhile she was conscionable the size of a meal plate, according to the zoo. This means that she hatched determination astir 1830, and she died successful 2006.

Galapagos tortoises see 15 subspecies of tortoises from the islands, 3 of which were deemed extinct. The remainder are each susceptible oregon critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Concerted efforts person been made to breed these tortoises successful captivity implicit the past respective decades, with much than 10,000 juveniles released to the chaotic since 1965, according to the Galapagos Conservancy. Some subspecies person been brought backmost from the brink of extinction.

In April, 4 babe Galapagos tortoises were calved astatine the Philadelphia Zoo to first-time parents that were astir 100 years old, a archetypal successful the zoo's history. In June, Zoo Miami nonmigratory and Galapagos tortoise Goliath became a first-time begetter astatine the property of 135.