Gramma the Galapagos tortoise, oldest resident of San Diego Zoo, dies at about 141

"Many visitors commented on social media about getting to first visit Gramma when they were young, and being able to come back years later with their kids. Cristina Park, 69, said one of her earliest memories from her childhood was going to the San Diego Zoo when she was 3 or 4 years old and riding on the back of a tortoise."

"As the world changed around her, she delighted visitors with her sweet, shy personality. She lived through two World Wars and 20 U.S. presidents. Her care specialists affectionately called her "the Queen of the Zoo." She was suffering from bone conditions related to her old age that progressed recently before she was euthanized, the zoo said."

"Galapagos tortoises can live for over 100 years in the wild, and close to double that in captivity. The oldest known Galapagos tortoise was named Harriet, who lived at the Australia Zoo until the age of 175. She was collected from the Galapagos Islands in 1835, when she was just the size of a dinner plate,"

Gramma was a Galapagos tortoise estimated to be about 141 years old and the oldest resident of the San Diego Zoo. She was born in the Galapagos and arrived from the Bronx Zoo in either 1928 or 1931 as part of an initial group of Galapagos tortoises. She delighted visitors with a sweet, shy personality and lived through two World Wars and 20 U.S. presidents. She developed bone conditions related to advanced age that progressed recently. Gramma was euthanized on Nov. 20. Many visitors recalled first visiting her in childhood and returning years later with their own children.

Read at ABC7 Los Angeles