Jonathan the Tortoise Alive After Fraudulent Crypto Death Hoax

Jonathan, the world's oldest known land animal, became the target of a cryptocurrency scam on April 1, 2026, when a fake account on X impersonating his veterinarian falsely announced the tortoise's death and solicited digital currency donations, prompting major news outlets including the BBC, Daily Mail, and USA Today to publish erroneous reports of his passing. The post, attributed to the account @JoeHollinsVet, claimed the Seychelles giant tortoise had died peacefully on Saint Helena island at an estimated age of 193 to 194 years. The fraudulent message accumulated over two million views before its origins were exposed. Nigel Phillips, the Governor of Saint Helena, personally went to check on the tortoise and confirmed Jonathan was alive and sleeping under a tree in his paddock at Plantation House.

Governor checks paddock, real vet calls it a con The real Joe Hollins, who does not maintain an account on X, swiftly denied the announcement and warned the public that a criminal operation was behind the post. „Jonathan the tortoise is very much alive. I believe on X the person purporting to be me is asking for crypto donations, so it's not even an April fool joke. It's a con.” — Joe Hollins via The Guardian Phillips, who had been preparing for bed on Wednesday night when he was flooded with anxious messages, got up and searched the grounds of the governor's residence before reporting back to the public. „Jonathan is asleep under a tree in the paddock.” — Nigel Phillips via The Guardian The Friends of the British Overseas Territories organization also relayed Phillips's confirmation, noting that the fraudulent account had recently changed its username and was actively soliciting cryptocurrency donations at the time the BBC published its report. Investigations by The Guardian traced the account to Brazil, though the total amount of cryptocurrency collected by the scammer remains unknown. The BBC and other outlets subsequently corrected or retracted their stories, but the false reports had already circulated widely.

Scammer tried to reframe fraud as April Fool's prank After the hoax unraveled, the operator of the fake account attempted to reframe the episode as a harmless April Fool's joke, posting that the viral spread of the false death notice had been unintentional. According to La Vanguardia, the impostor wrote that the post had reached 1.7 million views and asked whether anyone had actually sent cryptocurrency, claiming it had been a prank. The real Joe Hollins rejected that characterization, telling USA Today that the solicitation of donations made it a scam rather than a joke. The BBC, which had reported the death as fact based on the fraudulent post, faced particular criticism given that the cryptocurrency donation appeal was visible within the same post at the time of publication. Phillips, in a lighter moment the following morning, joked that Jonathan had issued a press statement paraphrasing Mark Twain: „The report of my death was an exaggeration ... Mark Twain, not Oscar Wilde. Jonathan would nonetheless have had the chance enjoy both their works in the original first editions.” — Nigel Phillips via The Guardian The episode drew widespread negative reaction on social media, with users publicly calling out the account before it was exposed by official sources.

Jonathan at 193: blind, still hungry, still mating Jonathan arrived on Saint Helena in 1882 as a gift to the South Atlantic island, brought from the Seychelles. A photograph from 1882 shows him already at full size, leading experts to estimate he was approximately 50 years old at the time of his arrival, placing his birth around 1832. He has lived on the grounds of Plantation House, the official residence of the island's governor, ever since. In 2024, he received a certificate from Guinness World Records officially confirming him as the oldest known living land animal in the world. The inhabitants of Saint Helena officially celebrated his 190th birthday in December 2021. Jonathan resides at Plantation House alongside three other giant tortoises named Emma, David, and Fredrik, according to Sky News. Despite being blind from cataracts and having lost his sense of smell, The Guardian reported that he retains a strong appetite for bananas and continues to attempt to mate with two younger tortoises on the property. 193 (years) — estimated age of Jonathan, world's oldest known land animal His likeness appears on the reverse of Saint Helena's 5p coin, reflecting his status as a local and international symbol of the remote British territory. The island of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, was discovered by Portugal in 1502 and has remained under British control since 1659, according to Sky News.