Immortality lessons from Jonathan the tortoise

Perhaps the frantic search for ways to cheat time misses the point of Jonathan's long life: Take it easy, take it slow

Jonathan’s longevity, though, is coming at a price. Aware of its own mortality, the Homo sapiens is, as always, looking for the fountain of youth.

2 min readOct 15, 2026 05:30 AM IST First published on: Oct 15, 2026 at 05:30 AM IST

Achilles, known to be fleet of foot, can never catch up to a tortoise as long as the slow-moving reptile has a head start. For, in every moment that Achilles moves, so does the tortoise. Zeno’s 5th-century BCE paradox, like Aesop’s fable about the hare and the tortoise a hundred years later, is a nice tale, easily resolved by simple observation, and the fact that motion is not the property of a single, static instant. But a look at Jonathan — the 180-kg giant tortoise who recently turned 194 years old — shows that on a long enough timeline, speed doesn’t matter all that much.

In many ways, Jonathan has an ideal and idyllic life. He is the star attraction on the island of St Helena, where he spends much of the day lolling around on the grounds of the governor’s mansion. A living heritage site, Jonathan is well fed and watered, and his health is monitored closely. While he shows some signs of ageing, his appetite — for sustenance and procreation — is intact. His hearing is also reportedly pretty good. In the race of life, he has clearly beaten both Achilles and the apocryphal hare.

Jonathan’s longevity, though, is coming at a price. Aware of its own mortality, the Homo sapiens is, as always, looking for the fountain of youth. The giant tortoise is being poked and prodded, his DNA studied for clues that could help people live longer and better. Perhaps the frantic search for ways to cheat time misses the point of Jonathan’s long life: Take it easy, take it slow.