• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

World's Oldest Pets, Livestock & Other Captive Animals

Yithian

Yithian

Parish Watch
Staff member
Joined
Oct 29, 2002
Messages
36,441
Location
East of Suez
World's Oldest Horse, Badger

Can't find it anywhere, correct me if i'm wrong, must've been reported while i was offline:

Horse is 51-year-old record-breaker

The world's oldest horse is being cared for by a horse society in west Wales.
The status of Badger, a 51-year-old grey Arab-Welsh cross has been confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records.

Julianne Aston from the Cardigan-based Veteran Horse Society found the animal in a livery yard four months ago.

The horse is the equivalent of 150 in human years, and had been stabled at the yard in 1997 by his last owner.

Born in Wales back in 1953, Badger had competed successfully in the show-jumping arena in his youth and featured in the Horse of the Year Show under the name of Little Boy Blue.

In the early 1970s Badger was sold to a Swansea family and when the children there had grown up, he was sold onto another owner who looked after him for 20 years.

This last owner stabled the horse in the livery yard in 1997 when family commitments made it difficult for her to look after him.

"We're hoping we might be able to set up CCTV cameras to keep an eye on Badger eventually," said Ms Aston.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/3442115.stm
Click to expand...
 
Sad news...

http://www.veteran-horse-society.co.uk/

PRESS RELEASE APRIL 2004
Badger ‘The Wonder Horse’
sadly dies aged 51 and takes his companion Tiny with him.


In 2003 the Veteran Horse Society discovered Badger the worlds oldest living horse aged 50. He was taken to their rehabilitation centre in Pembrokeshire, where he showed the world what an amazing and majestic horse he was and stole the hearts of all who met him. Sadly Badger has passed away peacefully at the Pembrokeshire Centre, but incredibly he took his companion Tiny with him. Literally Tiny died of a broken heart and within 24 hours Tiny too had passed away.
Badger really was a very special and magical horse and all those who worked with him at the centre are devastated by his and Tiny’s loss.


Julianne Aston, who founded the Society in 2001, worked personally with Badger for the time he was there and made this statement from her home yesterday.


‘I am absolutely devastated, we all knew we had a very special and magical pony in Badger, but I really can’t believe he has taken Tiny with him. There was something more to Badger than people realised, he did more than just touch people’s hearts, he had a presence and there was an aura and deep spirit about him. Tiny was not a very old horse but he couldn’t bear to be without him and together they stay now forever.


It has been an absolute honour to work with Badger and Tiny and they have taught us so much about veterans and have and will be fantastic ambassadors for the veteran horse.


Badger showed the world his magical strength and personality and Tiny has shown us how they love and cherish those who are with them. I have had pair bonds separated before and we helped them with their loss and grief, but there was nothing we could do, we even brought in a Shetland companion but not even this was changing his mind he was going to be with Badger he just couldn’t live without him’.
The Society would like to personally thank all those people who sent their well wishes and support to Badger and Tiny.





I came across this rather amazing old boy earlier today - a fantastic story, albiet with a very sad end - what a star it seems he was :)
 
I haven't seen the blue peter tortoise being wrapped up for the winter in recent years :sad: can anyone with kids conferm or deny any rumours of his passing?
 
Awww no! :(

I had the honour of encountering Timothy a couple of years ago at Powderham Castle - he looked remarkably sprightly considering.

As for the Blue Peter one, there was a rumour some years ago that they'd got through a few tortoises over the years and passed them off as the same one - a couple didn't make it through hibernation, one had a lump of the set collapse onto it, and one was, allegedly, accidentally stood on by one of the presenters.
 
:( Goodnight Timothy.

I recall reading that Timothy was bought in Constantinople en-route for the Crimea. The last Ottoman tortoise.
 
On the subject of macabre tortoise accidents, now is probably not the time to mention Dr. Chinery blowing one out of its shell with compressed air...;)
 
ah yes, dear dr. chinery.....
my mate had two when we were at primary school and they were hibernating in a box which was unfortunately taken away by the bin men. When she came to school and told us we were howling with laughter. The poor lass was devastated but you know what kids are like........
 
they were hibernating in a box which was unfortunately taken away by the bin men.
Click to expand...

Weird, much the same thing happened to my friend in Leeds, he used to put his tortoise in a cardboard box of straw in the back yard overnight, and one day the binmen took that too:(

Don't you need a license for them now, after so many of them got stiffed in the 70s by people who didn't know how to look after them?
 
From the front page - proving it is all relative although as it has been geneticall manipulated I suppose this is cheating:

World's oldest mouse turns 4

From correspondents in Ann Arbor, Michigan
April 13, 2004

A DWARF mouse named Yoda has celebrated his fourth birthday, making him the oldest of his kind and far beyond 100 in human years, the University of Michigan Medical School says.


Yoda, left, pictured with his friend Princess Leia, is believed to be the world's oldest mouse thanks to genetic modifications that slow his ageing process / AP


Yoda owes his longevity to genetic modifications that affected his pituitary and thyroid glands and reduced insulin production - and which left him a third smaller than an average mouse and very sensitive to cold.

On the other hand, at the human equivalent of about 136 years, Yoda is still mobile, sexually active and "looking good," said Dr. Richard A. Miller, associate director of research at the school's geriatrics centre.

Yoda lives in a carefully maintained lab with roughly 100 other male geriatric mice being used for a lifespan study. An average lab mouse lives slightly more than two years.

Yoda's cage mate, named Princess Leia after another "Star Wars" character, is a much larger female who uses her body warmth to keep the dwarf mouse from freezing to death.

Researchers are studying the genetic mutants to determine how altered hormone levels can slow the aging process, with the hope of figuring out which methods, if any, eventually could be applied to humans.
Click to expand...

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9266268^13762,00.html
 
I have a fish who's at least 12, does that count?
 
My goldfish died aged 17, which wasn't too bad for a goldfish.
 
GNC said:
My goldfish died aged 17, which wasn't too bad for a goldfish.
Click to expand...
Mine got to 14, then got poisioned when workmen messed up the sewage pipes.

Twenty's not particulary old for a goldfish, think more 40-45. They were originally wild carp that originated in China at Tropical temperatures. The reason that 10-20 seems old is because so many people don't look after them correctly. Most survive to about 5 despite not being looked after correctly, making those of us who know how to look after a fish appear to have the fishy equivalent of Methusula.
 
Mine's a Japanese weather loach. The goldfish are looking surprisingly spry though, although they're only 5. They're working their way up to being enormous though and beg for food at every opportunity. If they misbehave I put on the fishing programme on Home and Leisure :devil:
 
Emperor said:
From the front page - proving it is all relative although as it has been geneticall manipulated I suppose this is cheating:

World's oldest mouse turns 4

From correspondents in Ann Arbor, Michigan
April 13, 2004

A DWARF mouse named Yoda has celebrated his fourth birthday, making him the oldest of his kind and far beyond 100 in human years, the University of Michigan Medical School says.
Click to expand...

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9266268^13762,00.html
Click to expand...

and that it can't last:

Dwarf mouse dies after 100 human years



ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Yoda, a genetically modified dwarf mouse who lived to be the oldest of his kind, died Thursday in his cage at the University of Michigan.

The mouse was an integral part of ongoing lifespan research at the university's medical school, and lived to be four years and 12 days, the equivalent of more than 136 in human years, the school said. Yoda had not appeared to be sick and the exact cause of death was unknown, spokeswoman Sally Pobojewski said.

"I mean, he was old. That was the bottom line," Pobojewski said. "He was really, really old."

Yoda, who received the name after researchers agreed he looked like the sage of the 'Star Wars' movies, had genetic mutations that affected his pituitary and thyroid glands and reduced insulin production. The changes are suspected to have played a significant role in his longevity, and left him a third smaller than an average mouse and very sensitive to cold.

An average lab mouse lives slightly more than two years.

Researchers are studying the genetic mutants to determine how altered hormone levels can slow the aging process, with the hope of figuring out which methods, if any, eventually could be applied to humans.
Click to expand...

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=1810919
 
Apparently she's 39!

At 172 in human years, the tabby, who lives with Bill Thomas, 63, in Llanelli, South Wales, could well be the world’s oldest cat.

‘She’s gone deaf but apart from that she’s in good shape,’ he said. ‘She still looks for mice every day.’

He continued: 'We have researched Lucy's past and found she was born in Thomas Street, Llanelli in 1972.

'We have spoken to other people who can verify seeing her in the fish and chip shop in the early seventies.

'She appears to be the genuine article.'

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said there was no entry for the world's oldest cat.


Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/851885-is- ... z1AHAcUDZc
Click to expand...

That's older than me!
 
I'd be sceptical about that, especially if she hasn;t had the same owner from birth, or someone didn;t know for certain her age when they got her.
 
I have to admit it seems unlikely!

But maybe when cats vanish, you know when they "go off somewhere to die", maybe they don't die, they just find newe families.

...and then, as nobody expects cats to get so old, the new owners guess its age to be in the teens and the cycle starts again.

My friends had a cat that they took in as a stray, the vet said he couldn't tell for sure how old she was but probably around fifteen. If that estimate was right she made it well past twenty, but who knows?
 
My cat made it to 21/22, and believe me, she really, really looked her age.

I personally believe there's no way that cat could be 39.
 
If she's 39, she's incredibly well-preserved. My parents have cats turning 18 and 19, and they both look older than that. Granted, part of the impression of age in a cat is moving stiffly, which you can't really tell from a still picture, but she's still well-fleshed, has clear eyes with no visible sign of cataracts, and no visible grizzling on the face. She does seem to be getting that slightly untidy look older cats get when they get stiff and can't clean themselves as often or as well, so I do believe she's at least a middle-aged lass.

Given her extremely common colouring with no apparent distinctive markings, I'm inclined to blame her alleged lifespan on mistaken identity. Still, she looks sweet and I wish her long life and happy mousing.

(Random coincidence of the day: my own cat was originally named Lucy.)
 
As you say, old cats move in an old-cat way: they're rickety, if that isn't a ludicrous term to employ. I, too doubt that this cat is 39, but I wouldn't rule it as absolutely, unquestionably untrue. I met a cat in his late teens (19 - I think I was told) the other week and he had lost none of his considerable muscular bulk and still moved like an Alpha-male in every way. He looked like an (ugly) 7 or 8 year old: a pitbull among cats. Compared with one of my cats - a fourteen-year-old - this chap looked like a butch and feral beast! Will he retain his remarkably rude health for as long again and make 39? Probably not, but until science progresses, mortality is still, essentially, a role of the die and a matter of probability: one in a billion may get dealt a genetically amazing hand and fail to be killed by a succession of things that collectively made your death a virtual but not actual certainty; the freak results roll in relentlessly and you can't seem to land anything but a six! Further, factor in the vast number of cats that live and die and it is possible - just possible - one may defeat the odds in spectacular fashion.

Interestingly, I'd have little trouble believing a cat at 30, but 39 just seems so out-of-sync with my experience with felines that I'm going to need irrefutable evidence, which will obviously not be forthcoming in this instance.

Edit: Here's a 31-year-old:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1433749.stm
 
Cats are living longer, much longer in many cases, these days. I took our own cat (a mere stripling at 9) to the vet for a check-up just before Xmas,and she said whereas only a few years ago anything over about 15 was remarkable, these days they have several in their late teens on their books, and a couple over twenty (I should add it's a large practice with several branches.) She ascribes it to much better nutrition, first and foremost (cat and dog food are light-years ahead of what we fed them twenty years ago), also veterinary medicine is better and more pets are insured - so whereas in the past many were put down rather than face a very expensive operation or course of treatment, today a lot have major surgery, chemo, etc, and go on to recover.

All that said, dunno if 39 is legit or not, but the Guinness World record is for a cat called Creme Puff from Texas, who lived to 38, and that was over ten years ago, so it definitely seems possible.
 
Not overly fortean but it's amazing to think that a bird born at the start of the Great Depression (and whose gender is still undertimined) was until recently in better shape than me.


From http://indaily.com.au/news/2014/01/31/w ... es-sa-zoo/

Adelaide | The world’s oldest flamingo has died at Adelaide Zoo.

At the ripe old age of 83, the greater flamingo was put down on Friday morning after the bird’s quality of life had significantly deteriorated due to complications associated with old age.

Known as Greater, the flamingo – whose sex is unknown – arrived at the zoo in 1933 but records are not clear whether it came from Cairo or Hamburg Zoo.

“Greater is best known for being the world’s oldest flamingo and the last greater flamingo to have resided in Australia,” chief executive Elaine Bensted said.

“When Greater’s physical health started to deteriorate last year, our veterinary team began a course of anti-inflammatory pain medication to ensure Greater’s comfort.

“Greater responded well to treatment and remarkably survived the cold winter.”

But the flamingo took a turn for the worse this week when it was decided to humanely put it to sleep.

“Although this is an extremely sad loss for us all, it was the right thing to do,” Ms Bensted said, adding there was no more treatment that would have improved Greater’s life.

A memorial to Greater, who was almost blind, may be erected near the heritage listed flamingo pond.

Greater is survived by Chilly, a chilean flamingo, who is now Australia’s only remaining flamingo.

The zoo will monitor how the death affects Chilly.

In October 2008, several youths attacked Greater but the flamingo beat the odds to make a full recovery.

Currently, there is a moratorium on the importation of flamingos into Australia.
 
I had no idea they lived as long as that! :D

Shame that he/she has left another flamingo all alone though. :(
 
Great to see the keepers carrying on the Aussie naming tradition - the bloody obvious will do. :roll:
A greater flamingo = 'Greater'.
A Chilean flamingo = 'Chilly'.
A baby = 'Sprog'.
A dog = ...'dog'.
Seriously, why not just dispense with individual naming all together and just dub all life on the island 'mate'.
 
I guess a good name for a flamingo (or a pelican) would be "Bill".

Wow, amazing lifespan. But a few birds can live that long. I remember reading in the Guinness Book of records about a cockatoo that was about 80 years, I think.

I guess a lot of it comes down to being in captivity. Almost all animals live so much longer that way, for obvious reasons (nutritious food, medical care, no predators). I mean, even a slow worm in London Zoo reached 54 I think. They also had an Australian lungfish which was about 45 - I remember seeing it in the aquarium there.

Some data on lifespans of wild birds here:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/How_Long.html

Bill. [/url]
 
Not a giant, just the oldest.

A zoo in Germany is celebrating its new record-holder Paula, who has just become the oldest known two-toed sloth in the world.

Paula lives in Halle Zoo in central Germany, and at 50 years of age she has been entered into the Guinness Book of Records, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reports. Jutta Heuer, a keeper at the zoo and an authority on sloths, says "we applied on Paula's behalf, and her record has been confirmed" - just ahead of World Sloth Day on 20 October. Paula, who arrived in Halle in 1971, has already made the headlines once before this year, when she marked her 50th birthday in June with a plate of her favourite treat - cooked maize and vegetables.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-50067185
 
An Illinois family's indoor pet pot-bellied pig has been certified by Guinness as the world's oldest pig.
23-year-old pig dubbed the world's oldest by Guinness World Records

An Illinois couple's pet pig has been dubbed the oldest pig in captivity ever by Guinness World Records at age 23.

Patrick Cunningham and Stan Coffman, of Mundelein, said their pig, Baby Jane, was only 8 weeks old when they brought her home from a Virginia rescue, and she has now been declared the oldest pig in captivity ever by Guinness after her age was verified at 23 years, 77 days. ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...pig-living-captivity-Baby-Jane/3271628622974/
 
EnolaGaia said:
indoor pet pot-bellied pig
Click to expand...

There was a vogue for keeping these things as pets, twenty-odd years ago. Then there was a vogue for losing them, abandoning them or clogging up the Free Ads with them. It was just before the Web really took off. It was around the same time that a supposedly collectable range of piggy-pottery was advertised for ludicrous sums. The piglet-lovers' film Babe came out in 1995, after a 1983 novel, which no one had read. Anyway Baby Jane pig was part of a trend.

Given that pigs are mostly raised for slaughter, their longevity as pets has yet to be fully explored; did many families hold onto them, when the fashion waned? :thought:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top