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It Was a Hoax: Jonathan, the World's Oldest Tortoise, Is Still 'Alive and Well'

According to Jonathan the tortoise's vet, there was also a crypto donation request from the same account that falsely announced the tortoise's death.

Headshot of Corin Cesaric-Epple
Headshot of Corin Cesaric-Epple
Corin Cesaric-Epple Editor
Corin Cesaric-Epple is a Flex Editor at CNET. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before joining CNET, she covered crime at People Magazine and national and international news at NBC Local Television Stations.
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Corin Cesaric-Epple
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A giant tortoise with neck extended and mouth open, standing on a grassy field.

Jonathan the tortoise, photographed in 2017, while out and about on St. Helena Island.

 Gianluigi Guercia/Getty Images

Jonathan the tortoise, believed to be the world's oldest living land animal, is still with us at 193 years old, contrary to a spurious, and possibly scammy, social media post and a flurry of news outlets mistakenly reporting his death.

On Wednesday, an X account purporting to be Joe Hollins, the veterinarian who cares for Jonathan, made a post that claimed the giant tortoise had died.

But after the post gained attention as media outlets cited it, the Guardian flagged it as a hoax. The UK publication reported that the X account originated in Brazil, rather than St. Helena Island in the South Atlantic, where both Jonathan and Hollins reside. 

The real Joe Hollins told USA Today that Jonathan "is very much alive." There was apparently an underlying motivation for the post, Hollins said. "I believe on X, the person purporting to be me is asking for crypto donations, so it's not even an April Fool joke. It's a con." 

CNET didn't see the request for crypto donations. If this was in fact a crypto scam, it's far from an isolated case. The FBI's most recent annual Internet Crime Report stated that cryptocurrency investment fraud resulted in more than $6.5 billion in losses in 2024 alone.

It is unclear how many, if any, crypto donations might have been made in connection with the death hoax. On Thursday, the official Guinness World Records account on X shared a new video of Jonathan snacking on bananas as further proof of life. 

Numerous outlets, including the BBC and USA Today, issued corrections after publishing the false news.