The tortoise of Darwin died at the age of 176

The tortoise which belonged to Charles Darwin died at the age of 176 years in an Australian zoo.

The enormous animal, called Hariet, is one of the three tortoises, whcih Darwin took from Galapagos in 1835 during his voyage with the ship Beagle.

Some scientist argue about this legend, because the DNA tests show that the tortoise was born on an island, on which Darwin had never been, but this doesn't bother the local people.

They also say that when Darwin found the tortoise it was still with the size of a plate and was only 5 years old. At first it was brought to England, but several years later moved to Brisbain, Australia.

There they decide that the animal is male and gave it the name Harry. Years later the mistake was fixed and called the tortoise Hariet.

Its last owner is "the crocodile hunter" Steve Urvain and his wife, who take care of a zoo in Queensland.

"Hariet died, while she slept in the night between thursday and friday, after a short illness" said the vet of the zoo. According to him the animal got a heart attack.

The longest living creature in the world is another - it's the tortoise Tui Malila, brought from Madagascar and given to the royal family of the Tonga islands by the British researcher Jame Cook in 1770. Tui Malila died in 1965 at the age of 188 and is written in the Guiness' records.