Harriet the Tortoise Dies

Harriet the Tortoise, believed to be one of the world's oldest living creatures, has died in Australia at 176 years old. Harriet lived out the final twenty years of her life at Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's Austrailia Zoo in Queensland. She was known as Darwin's tortoise because she was reputed to have been one of three tortoises taken from the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin on his historic 1835 voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, but there is some contention about this. She was also mistaken for a male and called Harry for over a century before the error was discovered.

While in Australia with Rich and company last August, I was lucky enough to see Harriet firsthand. Here is Charlie's picture of the historic old lady: