Jonathan, the world's oldest tortoise, has died at 193 years old. He was gay and lived through 2 world wars.

Question

Jonathan, the world's oldest tortoise, has died at 193 years old

He was gay and lived through two world wars and 40 US presidents

Answer 1

The claim that Jonathan the tortoise has died is false. The rumor originated on April 1, 2026, and was quickly identified as a coordinated hoax designed to recive cryptocurrency donations. 

CNN: This report details how the rumor spread and confirms via Anne Dillon, the head of communications on St Helena, that the tortoise is healthy.

• The Guardian: This article provides context on the "crypto scam" element, identifying that the fake reports were used to drive financial fraud.

• BBC News: This source corroborates the hoax through direct email correspondence with Nigel Phillips, the Governor of St Helena.

Answer 2

Jonathan, the Tortoise, is alive. He is doing great according to Guinness World Records and st. Helenas government.

He lived during two world wars. That is supported by a guinness piece from 2019 that stated he lived through those events.
He has lived through 40 u.s. Presidents. That is supported by another guinness piece from 2023 that states his lifespan covers that many u.s. Presidents.

Jonathan, the Tortoise, did not die. That is supported by st. Helana's government who told us today (april 2nd) that there was no truth to this story and jonathan was fine; he was at Plantation House when they saw him in the morning.
Guinness told us today (april 2nd) that jonathan is alive and well. This ends our research into this subject. We will now put together a full report based upon everything we found out about jonathan and his amazing life. We will add the relevant links below to allow you to see for yourself.

Primary sources:
St. Helana's government statement, April 2, 2026

Https://www.sthelena.gov.sh/news/press-releases/jonathan-the-Tortoise-is-alive-and-well-st-helena-government/

"The St Helena Government would like to assure the community that jonathan, St Helena's beloved giant Tortoise and world's oldest living land animal, is very much alive and well. Yesterday storied circulated on social media falsely claiming that jonathan had passed away. These claims are entirely untrue and appear to be part of an online hoax."

https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/jonathan-the-tortoise-is-alive-and-well/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Https://apnews.com/article/worlds-oldest-known-Tortoise-rumor-debunked-a2a0c7ebf3dab2ce5bf21e35ea98f8ac

AP independently confirmed with saint helena communications staff that jonathan is alive. AP reports that a fake account impersonated Joe Hollins and that hollins said the crypto-donation angle was a con.

Secondary sources:

Associated press (above)

We were unable to find other articles in major publications that covered this event beyond the above AP article. However, we note that we could not verify whether the associated press or the guardian reported on this prior to their own fact checking efforts."

Answer 3

The post is publishing incorrect information. According to the St. Helena Government (published April 2nd, 2026), Jonathan is "very much alive and well" and was seen that morning. Even the Guinness World Records reported that the death accounts were fake after checking with St. Helena. Moreover, there was confirmation that this rumor came from a "fake social media post" that had no evidence or verification of Jonathan's death. The publisher, Dextero, claims it is a gaming and internet culture media company, which would have zero credibility when speaking on Jonathan the tortoise. I then followed to see where the rumor started, which came from a fake X account impersonating a veterinarian. It was proved this veterinarian had no relation to this X account, deeming the claim false. Lastly, the comment referring to Jonathan being "gay" refers to his previous mating behavior, which is not inherently false.

https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/jonathan-the-tortoise-is-alive-and-well/

Answer 4

According to my research, it appears there are many who agree that Jonathan the world's oldest living turtle, is in good health. I also found evidence indicating that this was an attempted crypto scam. A user on X claimed to be Joe Hollins, though Joe Hollins has no account on X. The impersonator requested cryptocurrency donation after the fake report of Jonathan’s passing.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/world/oldest-tortoise-alive-despite-rumor-intl-hnk

Primary source:

Jonathan was seen in his home asleep but perfectly alive, and him being dead is a online hoax

Jonathan the Tortoise is Alive and Well – St Helena Government

Secondary source:

The veterinarian that took care of Jonathan was sad to hear about the death but also glad when they figured out it was a lie. 

https://people.com/jonathan-world-oldest-tortoise-crypto-death-hoax-11941123

My secondary source might have a bias to make the turtle seem dead because that would gain more attention, or make the situation more drastic than it is. My main source was posted by the government which will probably not be biased but maybe not bring up the opposing side like the magazine. 

I am factchecking by going to a .gov website of where Jonathen is located.

The evidence that undermines my evidence is the twitter post claiming hes dead. 

I didn't get a reply from the original source

Answer 5

Jonathan is widely described as the world’s oldest known living land animal, with an estimated birth around 1832 and a long life on Saint Helena. Recent coverage says he has lived through two world wars and 40 U.S. presidents, but the specific “died at 193” claim was publicly debunked by reporting that cited the St Helena government and Guinness World Records.

Primary sources found

BBC report on the death-hoax correction: This article says Jonathan is “alive and well” and explains that the viral death announcement was fabricated. It also notes that the St Helena government and Guinness World Records were involved in confirming the correction.

Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c393xmpzjwko

Guinness World Records feature on Jonathan’s 190th birthday: This source establishes Jonathan’s record status and gives historical context about his age and significance. It also confirms that he is recognized as the oldest chelonian and discusses how his official birthday was chosen.

Link: https://kids.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2022/1/jonathan-age-190-is-the-worlds-oldest-tortoise-ever-688683

Answer 6

My primary sources are a BBC article, BBC News “World's oldest known tortoise still alive, as reports of death revealed as hoax”, and a USA Today article, “Jonathan, world’s oldest tortoise, is alive despite viral death rumor”. Both sources clearly state that reports of Jonathan’s death were just misinformation being spread online.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c393xmpzjwko

(https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/04/01/jonathan-oldest-tortoise-dies-st-helena/89424376007/)

The BBC reports that officials from Saint Helena confirmed Jonathan is still alive today, this contradicts the social media claims. Similarly, USA Today explains that the false claim likely spread through unverified posts, and not from any official announcement. Both sources rely on statements from credible authorities on the island, making them strong secondary sources.

The second claim is that Jonathan “lived through two world wars.” This is true. Jonathan is estimated to have been born around 1832, so he would’ve lived through World War I and World War II.

Finally, the claim that Jonathan “was gay” can be misleading. Jonathan has lived with other tortoises, including one named Frederic, who was thought to be a female but was later determined to be a male. Because Jonathan had shown mating behavior with male tortoises, some media outlets jokingly described him as “gay.” However, applying human sexual identity labels to animals is not scientifically precise.

The initial claim originated from viral posts by Dextero on bsky.app, which was a vague claim with no evidence supporting it. As reported by BBC News, the officials at Saint Helena confirmed that Jonathan was alive, which means that his death was never officially stated.

Answer 7

The claim in the X post made by Dexerto states that Jonathan the 193 year old homosexual turtle passed away. It is true that the turtle lived to 193 and gay but he has not died but is still alive and well. Magazines, news articles, and government websites have all come out and said the post was a crypto scam and the turtle is actually doing fine. 

Jonathan was seen in his home asleep but perfectly alive, and him being dead is an online hoax

Jonathan the Tortoise is Alive and Well – St Helena Government

Secondary source:

The veterinarian that took care of Jonathan was sad to hear about the death but also glad when they figured out it was a lie. 

https://people.com/jonathan-world-oldest-tortoise-crypto-death-hoax-11941123

My secondary source might have a bias to make the turtle seem dead because that would gain more attention, or make the situation more drastic than it is. My main source was posted by the government which will probably not be biased but maybe not bring up the opposing side like the magazine. 

I am factchecking by going to a .gov website of where Jonathen is located.

The evidence that undermines my evidence is the twitter post claiming he's dead.

Comments

I like how you organized your fact check. It has a lot of clarity and can easily be understood by the person viewing it. Your use of both primary & secondary sources to confirm that the statement on Jonathan the Tortoise is incorrect provides credibility in confirming that the claim was indeed false. I think the importance of noting that the original post came from a Crypto Scam also gives value to understanding why someone may have intentionally spread misinformation.

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I'm really faun how you included the original X post  was actually a crypto scam that the poster was asking for donations. I feel like for the audience that is an important key detail as to where the motive may have come from. I also like how you included and elaborated about the turtle's sexuality.

Answer 8

Think of this as your investigation log. Answer each question to explain what you discovered and how you got there.

1. Write a brief overall summary of your findings.

I found this post very interesting, and what I found in the comments was even more interesting. Many comments clarified that the turtle is alive and accused the post of using clickbait to falsely portray it as gay. Many of the comments I read also said the turtle was not dead and was still alive. I found a lot of comments from people trying to push the narrative that this turtle is still alive and gay. These comments were primarily from trolls and fake media.

2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/world/oldest-tortoise-alive-despite-rumor-intl-hnk

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c393xmpzjwko

I found two sources confirming that Johnathon, the world's oldest living tortoise, is still alive and well. I also found that Joe Hollins, the creator of that X post, was a fake account, and that someone was using his name and credibility to spread fake news. The BBC article claims that the X post about the turtle's death was nothing but a hoax to gain followers and get clicks. Even though some facts about Johnathon the tortoise were right, like that he has been alive for two world wars, and that he was born in 1832. The narrative and facts are wrong.

3. What secondary sources did you find (e.g., newspapers, magazines)? Only use secondary sources if sufficient primary sources are not available. For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/02/worlds-oldest-tortoise-crypto-death-scam

I was able to find many trusted news sources claiming that the tortoise was in fact not dead and that the tortoise has had a long-time partner that is a male tortoise, so in a human's mind, the tortoise would be gay, but he is an animal and can't choose a sexuality. People just find it amusing that a tortoise has a long-time partner that was mistaken for a girl. The Guardian alleges this post was part of a crypto scam, and the BBC has since retracted its statement claiming the tortoise was dead.

4. What potential biases or interests might each of your sources have?

The sources I used were trusted, used by people to fact-check fake narratives all the time. Whenever I find something that could potentially be spam or fake, I check BBC.

The information was misleading. I was fact-checking this information using reliable sources and researching the entire narrative. The main claim was that Johnathon died, which is false, and even though some people will claim that the tortoise isn't gay, I believe that is just opinion-based because the turtle obviously doesn't have feelings and doesn't understand the concept of being gay because he is an animal.