Giant Tortoise Has Outlived Major Massachusetts History

If Jonathan could talk, he'd have a lot to say.

The Seychelles giant tortoise just celebrated his 192nd birthday, making him the oldest known living land animal. He lives on Saint Helena, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. He eats, he sleeps, he takes life slow.

His caretakers estimate he was born around 1832 when Andrew Jackson was president of the United States.

He's pretty cute. Look at him go:

Had this charming fellow (seen already looking old in black-and-white 19th-century photos) come of age in Massachusetts, he would have witnessed some pretty major stuff.

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Massachusetts is blessed with history. Everywhere you turn, there's a piece of the past. It's nice but bittersweet. We have the artifacts, we have the stories but we don't have the people responsible for them. They lived and they died long ago.

Then, there's Jonathan who has outlived them all.

READ MORE: Massachusetts TV Star Jesse Williams' Surprising Link to Salem Witch Trials

Jonathan might not like the connection, but he's old enough to be Lizzie Borden's father. The Fall River woman, born in 1860, was acquitted of the hatchet murders of her parents in 1892. Borden died in 1927, when she was 66. Jonathan is also 13 years older than the Borden house on Fall River's Second Street, the site of the murders and now a Victorian-era museum.

That's old.

It turns out Jonathan is older than many Massachusetts staples that seem like they've been around forever. From a classic novel to a celebrated sandwich, the distant past wasn't really all that long ago for one legendary shelled star.

Take a look below.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Jonathan. You don't look a day over 191.