In March 2006, the world lost a living link to the 18th century. While historians rely on dusty documents and fading paintings to understand the British colonization of India, one creature had quietly watched it all unfold from a garden in Kolkata.
This is the story of Adwaita, an Aldabra giant tortoise who reportedly lived for over 250 years, outlasting the empire that brought him to India and surviving well into the internet age.
A Gift for the General
Adwaita’s journey began long before modern record-keeping. Historical accounts suggest British sailors captured him in the Seychelles shortly after his birth, estimated around 1750. He was one of four tortoises presented as a gift to Lord Robert Clive, a pivotal figure in the British East India Company.
Clive, known for his military victories and controversial rule, kept the animals at his sprawling estate in the northern suburbs of Calcutta. While Clive returned to England in 1767 and died just seven years later, his quiet companion remained. Adwaita continued to graze in the gardens, outliving his original owner by more than two centuries.
From Private Garden to Public Star
In 1875, the Alipore Zoological Gardens opened its doors, and Adwaita was transferred from the private estate to the public zoo. By this time, he was already over 120 years old—a senior citizen by human standards but merely middle-aged for his species.
He spent the next 131 years as the zoo’s most revered resident. Keepers named him Adwaita, a Bengali word meaning “The One and Only,” acknowledging his status as the sole survivor of the original four tortoises. He thrived on a simple diet of wheat bran, carrots, lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass, and salt, eventually growing to weigh an impressive 250 kilograms (551 pounds).
The Final Years
Adwaita’s health remained robust for most of his life, but age eventually took its toll. In late 2005, keepers noticed a crack in his shell. Despite their best efforts, a wound developed beneath the fracture and became infected. On March 22, 2006, Adwaita died from liver failure.
His death sparked a global conversation about longevity. While the Guinness World Records listed Harriet, a 176-year-old Galapagos tortoise in Australia, as the oldest living animal at the time, Adwaita’s purported age of 255 years would have shattered that record.
Solving the Age Mystery
To confirm the extraordinary claims of his age, officials turned to science. Carbon dating performed on Adwaita’s shell after his death supported the timeline that he was born around 1750.
This scientific evidence backed the historical records linking him to Robert Clive, suggesting that when Adwaita took his first steps, the United States did not yet exist, and Mozart had not yet been born. The shell remains preserved at the zoo, a physical proof of a life that stretched across eras.
Adwaita the tortoise was born before Mozart.
He belonged to Lord Clive in the 1700s and lived through the rise and fall of the British Empire in India.
He didn't just survive history.
He watched it happen from a garden in Kolkata for over 250 years…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/YvCmeH2GOV
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) November 26, 2025