Gramma the Galápagos tortoise lived a life that spanned eras. Estimated to have been born around 1884, she witnessed the fall of empires, two world wars and the administrations of more than 20 U.S. presidents. If that birth year is correct, she arrived in the world while Chester Arthur was president, the Washington Monument was completed, the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal cornerstone was set, the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary appeared, Queen Victoria still reigned, and the prime meridian at Greenwich was established.
The San Diego Zoo said Gramma died Thursday at about 141 years old, with wildlife care staff at her side. In recent years she had been receiving support for age-related conditions, and zoo teams made the difficult, compassionate decision to say goodbye. She had lived at the San Diego Zoo for roughly a century after arriving there around 1928 from the Bronx Zoo; she had originally been taken from the Galápagos Islands.
Scientists point to tortoise biology to explain such extraordinary longevity. Steven Austad, a biology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and author of Methuselah’s Zoo, notes that tortoises ‘‘live very slow lives’’ — their slower biological pace means the cellular and molecular processes that drive aging happen more gradually. Stephen Blake, an assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University who studies giant tortoises, puts it another way: species that ‘‘drive fast’’ tend to ‘‘die young,’’ whereas tortoises ‘‘grow old with grace.’’ He colorfully likens them to thoughtful, fuel-efficient drivers.
Blake also highlights physiological traits that help giant tortoises avoid accumulating toxic byproducts over time — a kind of built-in ‘‘physiological oil change.’’ Gramma’s long life is consistent with other unusually old Galápagos tortoises: NPR reported a tortoise that lived to about 130 in South Dakota in 2011; Lonesome George lived well into his hundreds before dying in 2012; ‘‘Speed’’ lived to about 150 at the San Diego Zoo before dying in 2015; and Zoo Miami recently marked Goliath’s 135th birthday.
The San Diego Zoo celebrated Gramma’s 138th birthday with a ‘‘shellabration’’ video a few years ago. Staff called her ‘‘the Queen of the Zoo’’ and described her as ‘‘a sweet and shy tortoise’’ who quietly touched many lives during nearly a century in San Diego and served as a gentle ambassador for reptile conservation.
How did tortoises get to the Galápagos in the first place? Blake explains that they most likely drifted from South America, surviving long ocean voyages thanks to buoyant, bell-shaped shells and the ability to lift their long necks like snorkels to breathe. Genetic studies suggest the island population descended from a single female colonizer about 2 to 3 million years ago; females can also store sperm for up to seven years, which helps establish new populations from rare arrivals.
Giant Galápagos tortoises show marked sexual size differences: males can weigh more than 500 pounds and reach roughly 6 feet in length, while females are around half that size. Across the archipelago there are about 15 recognized subspecies, and unfortunately three of those are considered extinct.
Gramma was born only a few years after Charles Darwin’s death in 1882, and Blake points out that it’s ‘‘highly probable’’ some tortoises alive today were already on the islands when Darwin visited aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835. Whether any of those individuals actually encountered Darwin is unknown, but the species’ long lifespans make such historical overlaps possible.
Gramma’s passing marks the end of an era for the San Diego Zoo and for those who knew her as a quiet, enduring presence — a living link to more than a century of natural and human history.