Harriet, a giant Galapagos Land tortoise celebrates her 175th birthday on November 15th. Just imagine lived 174 years in this world. Now don't you think we should respect them more than our grand parents? This creature came to this world 174 years before we born! The researchers came to know that she may live another 20 years...
She has traveled more than we have done. But she has came through a difficult period as a somewhat reluctant lesbian.
But this dear old lady has also known heartbreak - confusion over her gender has meant she has never known the love of a good tortoise nor had any offspring.
When Harriet was hatched on one of Galapagos Islands, William IV was still on the throne and Victoria was a flighty teenager. When Harriet was just five and about the size of a dinner plate. She was discovered by Charles Darwin. Darwin was fascinated by the Galapagos tortoises, especially when he noticed that the different islands apparently contained distinct sub-species adapted to each island's particular conditions.
Why the great naturalist wasn't up to the task of sexing giant tortoises?
She had two friends. Tom and Dick. They had miserable times. Freezing in winters and lucky sunshine sent them to state of virtual hibernation.
So in 1837 Tom, Dick and Harry were put back aboard the Beagle, this time bound for Australia. Five years later, the 12-year-old Harriet was donated to Brisbane Botanical Gardens in Queensland, where she began her new life. Sadly, Dick died in the late 1880s while Tom passed away in 1949.
And for the next 100 years, Harriet lived a confused, frustrated and unfulfilled life as a male tortoise called Harry because she was too heavy for anyone to take the time to flip her on to her back and check her gender.
For several unhappy decades, keepers tried in vain to mate "Harry" with female Galapagos land tortoises. Not surprisingly, Harriet was denied young of her own, and when she wasn't being coaxed into same-sex encounters with female tortoises, she gave piggyback rides to human children.
Harriet made her last journey in 1988 to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. This November 15, like every year, local schoolchildren will organize a birthday party for her. That's a amazing news. That's the respect that we should show to her. Because the humans are also creatures. she is the oldest and most experienced creature in the world since she didn't have the technology and the brain like humans.
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