Adwaita (meaning "one and only" in Sanskrit) (c. 1750 – 23 March 2006) was the name of a male Aldabra giant tortoise in the Alipore Zoological Gardens of Kolkata, India. He was amongst the longest-living animals in the world.
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"Historical records show he was a pet of General Robert Clive of the British East India Company, and had spent several years in his sprawling estate before he was brought to the zoo about 130 years ago."[1] It is said that the Aldabra tortoise was a gift to Clive from the British seafarers who captured the tortoise from the Seychelles Islands. Reports show that Clive had four such tortoises in his villa in Latbagan at Barrackpore, in the suburbs of Kolkata. Three of the animals died, while Adwaita was transferred to the Alipore zoo in 1875 by Carl Louis Schwendler, the founder of the zoo. Adwaita lived in his enclosure in the zoo until his death in 2006.
Weighing 250 kg (550 lb), Adwaita was a bachelor with no records of his progeny. He lived on a diet of wheat bran, carrots, lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass and salt. His shell cracked and a wound developed some months before his death from liver failure in March 2006.
The age of Adwaita is estimated to be around 255. If confirmed, this would make Adwaita the oldest tortoise of modern times, living longer than Harriet by 80 years, and Tu'i Malila by 67 years.
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