No one knows exactly when Gramma the Galápagos tortoise was born on that volcanic chain of Pacific islands. What is clear, though, is that she lived through the fall of empires, two world wars, and the tenure of more than 20 U.S. presidents. If the estimated birth year of 1884 is accurate, Chester Arthur occupied the Oval Office and there were only 39 states at the time.

It was also the year the Washington Monument was finished, the Statue of Liberty's pedestal cornerstone was set , and the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary appeared. Queen Victoria still ruled Britain. A line running through Greenwich, England, was established as the prime meridian — the zero degree longitude mark that regularized nautical charts and time zones.

Gramma, who lived for a century at the San

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