Good-bye, old turtle

Last week a tortoise that might have been 250 years old died.

It was in a zoo in India - they can't prove that it was actually more than 150, but have bits and pieces of information from what they term "authentic sources" indicating that it might have been around for quite a bit longer. It must have been an imporessive old creature, since these turtles often weigh in at about 265 pounds.

Before coming to the Kolkata zoo, it was the pet of Robert Clive, a famous British military officer in colonial India around the middle of the 18th century.

Its name was "Addwaitya" meaning the "The One and Only" in Bengali.