‘Queen of the Zoo’ Gramma the tortoise dies after century at San Diego Zoo

Gramma, a Galápagos tortoise that the San Diego Zoo called “a quiet and constant presence” for nearly a century at the Zoo, has died. 

Yes, a century, dating back to the zoo’s early days.

The zoo, in a statement posted to social media, announced “with immense sadness” that the tortoise died Thursday.

Though her exact birth date remains unknown, experts estimate Gramma may have lived for up to 141 years, making her the oldest inhabitant of the zoo.

Wildlife care specialists and her health team had been closely monitoring her ongoing bone conditions due to Gramma’s advanced age.

They held her in high esteem, calling her “the Queen of the Zoo,” but as her “conditions recently progressed, (the team) made the compassionate and exceptionally difficult decision to say goodbye,” zoo officials said.

Gramma arrived in San Diego between 1928–1931 as part of the first group of Galápagos tortoises to come to the zoo soon after its formal opening in 1923. Legend has it, officials said, that zoo founder Dr. Harry Wegeforth welcomed her.

The zoo did the math, calling Gramma “a witness to history” whose lifetime included the tenures of 20 U.S. presidents, two World Wars and two pandemics.

Officials called her “an extraordinary ambassador for her species” and said “she gently touched countless lives over nearly a century in San Diego” and promoted “reptile conservation worldwide.”

She did so “while enjoying sunshine, endless herbivorous snacks and puddles in her habitats throughout Reptile Mesa,” the zoo said. She particularly loved romaine lettuce and cactus fruit.

Her lifespan appears to have been about average for Galápagos tortoises, which easily can reach 100 years of age, with many living to be 150. Remarkably, some can approach the two century mark.

Given her decades of residency at the San Diego Zoo, Gramma also connected generations of team members, guests, volunteers and conservationists, and as technology advanced, she went from appearing in simple black-and-white photographs to becoming a fixture in the zoo’s social media posts.

Or a “shell-ebrity” as they put it in a Facebook post last year.

“Caring for such a remarkable tortoise was a privilege,” the zoo concluded.