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175th birthday bash for tortoise

Source: BBC News On Line

A zoo in Australia has held a 175th birthday party for one of the world's oldest known living creatures, a Giant Galapagos tortoise.

Australia Zoo, where the tortoise has lived for the last 17 years, marked the day with a pink hibiscus flower cake.

Although the animal's exact date of birth is not known, DNA testing has indicated its approximate age.

Some people believe the tortoise, known as Harriet, was studied by British naturalist Charles Darwin.

Darwin took several young Giant Galapagos tortoises back to London after his epic voyage on board HMS Beagle.

DNA testing has suggested the giant creature was born around 1830, a few years before Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835.

However, Harriet belongs to a sub-species of tortoise only found on an island that Darwin never visited.

Plate to table

At the time of Darwin's visit, Harriet would have been about as big as a dinner plate. She now weighs 150kg (23 stone) and is roughly the size of a dinner table.

According to the BBC's Phil Mercer, in Sydney, Harriet has become somewhat of a celebrity at the Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

She receives a thorough wash every morning and is fed a vegetarian diet that includes green beans and celery.

Her keepers believe she has survived for so long because she has enjoyed a stress-free life.

We also have a fantastic range of TEAM ZISSOU clothing from the the film The Life Aquatic, read about the film here (sorry, no speedos as yet)...

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- Jacques-Yves Cousteau

This site would not be complete without a mention of the red capped Captain him self.. Jacques-Yves Cousteau..

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One thing that ties all marine biologists together is our love the sea, its life and its systems. Even the hardiest of statistics or industry worn marine biologist couldn't deny this somewhere down the line.

A second reason is that the job does come with a certain ore and wonder; We all at some time enjoy being able to say I am a marine biologist

With this in mind its about time we had some decent t'shirts and ways of celbrating this. Sorry, there are no airbrushed dolphins on this site.

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