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The 190-year-old tortoise: It’s a big birthday year for Jonathan the giant tortoise, perhaps the most famous resident of the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. He is thought to have been born in 1832, 11 years after Napoleon died in exile in the British colony. Jonathan, however, didn’t arrive on the island from the Seychelles until 1882, when he was gifted to a man who would become St. Helena’s governor. He has spent the last 140 years eating, sleeping, and mating on the grounds of the Governor’s Mansion, CNN reports. See photographs of Jonathan today, in 1947 with 21-year-old Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth II, and even in the 1880s.
Back in the wild: It took six years and 30 operations, but a rhinoceros that lost its horns in a poaching attack is back in the South African bush, the Guardian reports. The rescued 10-year-old bull was named Sehawukele, meaning “God have mercy on us,” after he was found stumbling near a fence in a reserve, so disfigured that he could barely hear or eat.
Shark attacks are up: Unprovoked shark attacks on humans rose sharply in 2021. Scientists blame COVID. Attacks were down in 2020 when people stayed home but rose last year after swimmers returned to the water, Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, told Newsweek.
Elon Musk’s $500 cat beds: Starlink, Elon Musk’s internet company, has more than 1,600 outdoor satellites orbiting through space. However, some of the earthbound Starlink satellite dishes are having an internet speed problem. The satellite dishes have a self-heating feature, which works great at melting snow—but may be why cats are huddling on them to warm up, the Guardian reports.
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