STATESMAN JOURNAL (Salem, Oregon) 14 December 10 Oregon tortoise may be 150, going to warmer home

Eugene (AP): Getting older may not make most people feel particularly special, but in the world of giant tortoises, the older you get, the more special you become.

Ozzie, a 600-pound male Aldabra giant tortoise currently lodged at the Santa Clara Animal Hospital, is at least 150 years old or so his owners were told when they purchased him from an Indiana circus.

But he could be even older, said Sean Barrett, a veterinarian at the animal hospital. The only foolproof way of verifying Ozzie’s age would be to carbon date a small fragment of his shell, he said.

Carbon dating is a scientific method used to learn the true age of ancient materials.

Carbon dating was done on Adwaita, a giant tortoise at a zoo in Calcutta, India. It revealed him to be about 255 years old at the time of his death in 2006, making him one of the oldest creatures of modern times.

And Ozzie may be closing in on him.

“It’s really remarkable when you think about how long Ozzie’s been alive,” Barrett said. “All the things he’s seen. It’s hard to wrap your head around being alive for that long.”

Ozzie certainly looks ancient. With his small, jet black eyes; primitive-looking cranium; long, retractable, leathery neck; and huge frame, he can make visitors feel as if they’re meeting a dinosaur face to face.

“He’s really a gentle giant, and as prehistoric as he is, he has a lot of personality,” said Barrett, who reports that Ozzie typically lights up when he’s around young children.

Ozzie was brought to the animal hospital because of a pulmonary tract infection that caused him to stop eating. But he’s on the mend now, Barrett said.

Because Aldabra giant tortoises are native to the Seychelles an archipelago off the eastern coast of Africa Ozzie has had some difficulty adjusting to Oregon’s winter climate, even in a heated indoor enclosure.

As a result, his publicity-shy owners who wished to remain anonymous soon will be moving him, with the help of a specialty hauler, to a new compound in Texas, where the dry climate should agree with him more.

“He likes it at 80 or even 85 degrees,” Barrett said.

As you might imagine, Ozzie doesn’t move quickly. Not when he munches on his favorite snack food, bananas, nor when he raises himself up onto his four sturdy legs and starts lumbering around.

“But once he gets moving, there’s not much you can do to stop him,” Barrett said. “He just thunders through stuff; he’s like a massive linebacker.”
Oregon tortoise may be 150, going to warmer home

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