世界上現(xiàn)存最古老的寵物——烏龜湯米，今年121歲

世界上現(xiàn)存最古老的寵物——烏龜湯米，今年121歲

A tortoise named Tommy has become the world’s oldest living pet after celebrating her 121st birthday this week — and boy, has she seen a thing or two.

一只名叫湯米的烏龜在本周慶祝了121歲生日后，成為了世界上現(xiàn)存最古老的寵物——孩子，還有她沒見過的事嗎?。

The endangered Hermann’s tortoise has been in the same British family since she was purchased for £1 in 1909, living through 21 US presidents, six different English monarchs and two world wars.

1909年，這只瀕臨滅絕的赫爾曼烏龜以1英鎊的價格被買下。自那以后，它一直生活在同一個英國家庭里，經(jīng)歷了21位美國總統(tǒng)、6位不同的英國君主和兩次世界大戰(zhàn)。

“She’s been through the family all these years and we all love her to bits,” owner Sheila Floris told the UK Metro on Monday.

主人希拉·弗洛里斯于本周一接受《英國地鐵報》采訪時說:“她和我們家一起生活了這么多年，我們都非常愛她。”

Tommy was born in 1898 and was purchased by Sheila’s grandmother Margaret Cloonan when she was already 11 years old.

湯米出生于1898年，在希拉11歲的時候被她的祖母瑪格麗特·克魯南買下。

At that time, William McKinley was the US president and Queen Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

當(dāng)時，威廉·麥金利是美國總統(tǒng)，維多利亞女王是大不列顛及愛爾蘭聯(lián)合王國的君主。

New York City as we know it today didn’t exist, either. The five boroughs were separate counties before they were consolidated by mayor Robert Van Wyck that year.

我們今天所知道的紐約市也不存在。這五個區(qū)在被市長范懷克(Robert Van Wyck)于當(dāng)年合并之前是獨立的縣。

Floris, 62, has been caring for Tommy since she was 5 years old and said the beloved pet was mistaken for a boy until she began laying eggs.

62歲的弗洛里斯從5歲起就開始照顧湯米，她說這只可愛的寵物被誤認為是男孩，直到她開始下蛋。

“It was too late to change the name so the name has stuck ever since,” she said.

她說:“改名字已經(jīng)太晚了，所以這個名字一直沿用至今。”

“She was lovely to grow up with. I remember her racing around the garden and being quite speedy.”

“她長大后很可愛。我記得她在花園里跑來跑去，速度很快。”

The Surrey woman says Tommy hibernates six months of each year and has never been taken to the vet — crediting her excellent bill of health to plenty of love and a healthy diet of garden weeds.

這位薩里郡的婦女說，湯米每年冬眠6個月，從來沒有去看過獸醫(yī)。她把湯米的健康狀況歸功于充足的愛和健康的飲食習(xí)慣。

“Tommy still makes us laugh by racing around the garden, if I go outside I’ll call her name and she’ll come out to me,” Floris said.

弗洛里斯說:“湯米還在花園里跑來跑去逗我們笑，如果我要出去，我會叫她的名字，她就會出來找我。”

Most Hermann’s tortoises typically live to be 50 and are native to Turkey, eastern Italy and Greece.

大多數(shù)赫爾曼龜?shù)膲勖ǔ?0歲，原產(chǎn)于土耳其、意大利東部和希臘。

They were listed as an endangered species in 2012 and are known for having individual personalities and developing a bond with their owners, according to Petguide.com.

據(jù)Petguide.com網(wǎng)站報道，2012年，赫爾曼龜被列為瀕危物種，以個性獨特、與主人關(guān)系密切而聞名。

Tommy is also about to outlive the world’s oldest person, Jean Calment, who lived to be 122 until her death in 1997.

湯米還將比世界上最長壽的人讓·卡爾門特——1997年去世，享年122歲——活得更久。

“She’s like a family member,” Floris said. “She’s like a duchess, we’ve all grown up with her.”

“她就像一個家庭成員，”弗洛里斯說。“就像個公爵夫人，我們都和她一起長大。”