In the past Jonathan’s keepers had a rather laissez faire attitude to the tortoises on St Helena and so this is probably his first wash in 184 years.

We gave him a good scrub as we are expecting a Royal visitor who is going to meet him so we want him to look his best.

He looks so much cleaner and he seemed to enjoy the whole experience.

Jonathan stood like a statue when I was washing him, I don’t know whether that was the vibrations he found soothing or he was thinking ‘At last, I’ve had my first bath!’.

I just had a bucket of water with some surgical scrub and used the loofah and a little brush and just slowly cleaned him, it was pretty tiring

He doesn’t look any younger, but he does look different. He is much paler and you can see the rings on his shell have almost completely disappeared.

He had black deposits on his shell that came from wear and tear. As far as I could see his shell is in great condition for his age.

Hopefully he won’t have to wait another 185 years before his next bath.”

The island is expecting a visit by a member of the Royal family for the dedication of the new airport

[source: telegraph]