--- description: Jonathan is reputed to be the oldest known living land animal. title: Giant Tortoise Gets a Bath for the First Time in 184 Years image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch a Giant Tortoise Get a Bath for the First Time in 184 Years by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 25, 2016 9:01 PM CUT by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 25, 2016 9:01 PM CUT Here’s one shell of a story: Jonathan the Giant Tortoise — reputed to be the oldest known living land animal on Earth at an estimated age of 184 years — has finally had a bath. The massive reptile is considered a “national treasure” on the tiny British island territory of St. Helena. He reportedly was a mere 50 years old when he was delivered as a gift to St. Helena by the governor of the Seychelles in the late 1800s. [_Read this story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news/jonathan-giant-tortoise-finally-gets-bath-after-184-years-n545641 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4272817/tortoise-bath-cute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4272817/tortoise-bath-cute/"},"headline":"Watch a Giant Tortoise Get a Bath for the First Time in 184 Years","datePublished":"2016-03-25T21:01:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:10.631Z","description":"Jonathan is reputed to be the oldest known living land animal","url":"https://time.com/4272817/tortoise-bath-cute/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","cute"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4272817/tortoise-bath-cute/","name":"Watch a Giant Tortoise Get a Bath for the First Time in 184 Years"}}]}] ```