World’s Oldest Tortoise Still Alive After Crypto Coin Hoax

Great news for animal lovers and gamers alike: Jonathan the tortoise, who at 193 years old is recognized as the oldest living land animal, is very much alive! Despite reports circulating yesterday about his death, it turns out those claims were part of a hoax aimed at scamming people out of cryptocurrency—because, let’s face it, we’re living in some bizarre times.

On April 1, a date that should have raised some red flags, several outlets reported that Jonathan had passed away. The source of this misinformation? A post from someone pretending to be his veterinarian. A Twitter account claiming to be Joe Hollins, the tortoise’s real vet, shared a heart-wrenching message about Jonathan’s supposed peaceful passing on Saint Helena. But that was just a fabrication.

After reaching out to the actual Hollins, it was confirmed that Jonathan is alive and well. “Jonathan the tortoise is very much alive,” the vet stated. “The person on Twitter pretending to be me is soliciting crypto donations, so this isn’t even an April Fool’s joke—it’s a scam.”

The impersonator has since admitted to the hoax and claimed that people actually sent him cryptocurrency, which might sound unbelievable. However, it’s not hard to imagine someone with some crypto burning a hole in their digital wallet thinking this was a clever prank. A quick look at the Twitter account reveals posts about crypto and finance that are definitely out of character for Hollins. The outlets that rushed to report this without proper verification should feel a bit sheepish, but who would even think to pull off such a bizarre scam? It’s a strange world we live in.

One thing’s for sure: when the day comes that Jonathan does pass, every outlet will be triple-checking their facts before hitting that publish button.