Esmeralda (turtle)

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Esmeralda

Esmeralda is the name of one of the heaviest and very old, possibly the oldest living turtles in the world, which lives on the Seychelles' Bird Island . The Aldabra giant tortoise , with a shell length of more than 1.80 m, weighing over 300 kg, could allegedly have arrived on the island in 1808 when the ship Hirondelle was stranded and would thus have been born around the 1780s and thus over 200 years old. However, there are no reliable ancient records. Depending on the source, it is described as 298 to 304 kg and 120–170 years. She is in the Guinness Book of Records because of her age . The weight record is held by one of the Galapagos giant tortoises . Other sources, however, name the turtle Jonathan as the oldest living reptile.

The documentary Inseltraum Seychelles by Dirk Steffens from 2002 dedicates an own contribution of several minutes to Esmeralda.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Justin Gerlach: Famous Tortoises, 1998, ISBN 9780953378708
  2. ↑ The Tortoises - Seychelles (easyvoyage.de, accessed on April 21, 2014)
  3. ↑ natural wonders (reisen-seychellen.net, accessed on 21 April 2014)
  4. ↑ Esmeralda - The Giant Tortoise (seychellen.org, accessed April 21, 2014)
  5. ↑ One square kilometer of paradise (zeit.de, issue 45 from 1996, accessed on April 21, 2014)
  6. ↑ Travel tips Seychelles: Esmeralda & Co. (sueddeutsche.de, travel guide, accessed on April 21, 2014)
  7. ↑ Seychelles: Feuchter Traum (news.at of October 10, 2011, accessed on April 21, 2014)
  8. ↑ The oldest guest on the island is the giant tortoise "Esmeralda". It is over 200 years old. (focus.de, October 7, 2008, accessed April 21, 2014)
  9. ↑ Dream trip to the Seychelles (faz.net December 1, 2003, accessed April 21, 2014)
  10. ↑ Bird Island: White sand, exotic wildlife & the world's largest tortoise , BBC travel, accessed February 20, 2019
  11. ↑ Seychelles - Islands of Superlatives (fnz.at, accessed on April 21, 2014)
  12. ↑ Tortoise has his first bath in 184 years | Pickle. March 27, 2016, accessed August 20, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Island dream Seychelles (zdf.de, zdf neo broadcast of April 21, 2014)