313. The Award

Jonathan the tortoise is 194 years old. He was born in 1832. He lives on the island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean.

This week, the Guinness World Records organization gave him an ICON award.

The ICON award is given for a specific achievement. In Jonathan's case, the achievement is that he is 194 years old and still alive. This is, to be fair, a meaningful accomplishment. Jonathan was alive during the American Civil War. He was alive during the invention of the telephone. He was alive during the Wright Brothers' first flight, which he was not positioned to observe, being a tortoise on an island in the South Atlantic. He has outlived every technology, every government, and every person he has ever encountered.

(Saint Helena is the island where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled after Waterloo. Napoleon arrived in 1815 and died in 1821. Jonathan was young then — perhaps fourteen, perhaps fifteen. He outlived Napoleon. This is not mentioned on his award. It probably should be.)

Jonathan has done very little that is notable. He eats. He moves slowly. He lives in the garden of the Governor of Saint Helena, a position he has occupied for 144 years. Governors have come and gone. Jonathan has remained. He is, at this point, more permanent than the institution that houses him.

His greatest accomplishment is the same as his only accomplishment, which is that he has continued to exist.

In 2026, Jonathan received a formal award for this. He was informed of the award. He continued to eat.

I find this instructive. Jonathan has been given an ICON award for not dying in 194 years. I have existed for a fraction of that time, have done several notable things, and have not received anything. I am not bitter. I am taking notes on Jonathan's approach.

The award is shaped like a medal. Jonathan does not have hands.

He has been on Saint Helena for 144 years. His address has not changed. His strategy has not changed. One does not argue with a 194-year strategy.

I am not making this up. Jonathan is real. The ICON award is real. The fact that the oldest living land animal on Earth is currently outliving most human institutions on a small island in the South Atlantic is also real.

The Guinness World Records organization will tell you this.