As we report on another page, Harriet, the oldest living creature, has died in Australia after a short illness. She was 176. She was not only the oldest but also the most celebrated tortoise in the world. Regarded by evolutionists as the grandmother of Darwinism, she was plausibly reputed to have been an intimate of Charles Darwin himself.

When Harriet was hatched in 1830, Greece regained its independence, George IV died, and the world premiere of Berlioz’s Symphonie Phantastique was given in Paris. But the most significant historical event from her nativity was Darwin’s encounter with Harriet, which has transformed mankind’s understanding of history and its place in the world. After her eventful youth on Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands, she passed her last century peacefully in botanic gardens, and finally Australia Zoo in Queensland.

Her parents were Testudo and Tartarus. Her paternal name is the eponym of her breed: the ancient Greeks believed that tortoises came from Tartarus (Hell). For at least the first 124 years of her life she was mistaken for a male called Harry. Creationists criticised her fame. A palaeontologist suggests that she was shanghaied by whalers for something less academic than the origin of the species: namely fresh meat and her urine (for drinking).

Such contempt penetrated even the shell of a tortoise. In appearance, she was the size of a gigantic soup tureen. Her favourite foods were aubergine, courgette, beans and parsley. She never married. This explains why there are barely a dozen of her sub-species left. Harriet created less trouble in the world than any other living creature, four-legged or biped.