abbey;148738 wrote: So sorry, i only posted part of the article, here's some more.
In her sprightlier days, she was an inspiration to English naturalist Charles Darwin, author of On The Origin Of Species.
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.
Experts at her home in Australia Zoo, Brisbane, Queensland, reckon she will still be going strong in another 20 years.
"There's really not much of a precedent for such long-living reptiles, so we're basing our estimate on the fact that she really shows no signs of slowing down," says Richard Jackson, head reptile keeper.
And with no little pride, he adds: "There are some zoos out there - especially in America, that claim they have or have had tortoises that are older than Harriet. But they don't have records like we do!"
W HEN Harriet was hatched on one of Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador in 1830, William IV was still on the throne and Victoria was a flighty teenager.
The story really begins in 1835, when Harriet was just five and about the size of a dinner plate. She was discovered by Charles Darwin when he landed at the Galapagos archipelago.
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.
This was one of many observations that led him to formulate his theory of evolution.
But even the great naturalist wasn't up to the task of sexing giant tortoises - and "Harry" and two of her friends, Tom and Dick, found themselves aboard HMS Beagle headed for England as subjects of scientific research.
They were miserable times - freezing winters and a lack of sunshine sent them into a 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.
When the zoological part of the gardens closed in 1952, Harry was moved to a wildlife sanctuary on Australia's Gold Coast. Then, in 1960, a visiting director of Hawaii's Honolulu Zoo examined Harry - and found he was a she.
"Apart from Tom and Dick when she was a nipper, Harriet has never had a mate," says her keeper, Kelly Jackson - Richard's wife.
Harriet made her last journey in 1988 to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo where she will laze away the rest of her days. Despite being the main attraction and something of a national icon, she is enjoying a quiet retirement - apart from occasionally being disturbed by the frenzied noise of the crocodiles feeding.
Weighing more than 23 stone, she takes sluggish steps, having grown to the size of a large dinner table.
OK, let me see if I got this right. Darwin, a specialist on species, never checked or waited to have her sex checked but went happily along with his theories without regard to sex in a species?
Things that make you go hummmmm!
When choosing between two evils, I always like to take the one I've never tried before.
Mae West
