Oldest Living Land Animal on Earth Believed to be Gay

The mystery behind why a 186-year-old tortoise is childless has been solved. He's gay.

Jonathan, the oldest land animal on Earth, resides on the island of St. Helen, and he happens to the the area's most famous celebrity. He's so famous that in 1991 the French consul gifted him a girlfriend named Fredrica, in the hopes that the pair would hit it off and have little giant tortoises.

Alas, this was not to be. Oh, the pair got along fine -- they've been inseparable for 26 years.

According to The Times UK, after a quarter century together, Jonathan's keepers determined that Fredrica is most likely male.

it's not easy to figure out which sex a tortoise is. Gender is told by subtle clues like notches in the shell or stomach shape.

The Sun reports that Catherine Man, the island vet, discovered that Fredrica was probably "Fred" when treating the animal for a shell lesion.

Man also told The Sun that the two animals do everything together - eating, sleeping and mating at set times.

Jonathan is believed to be the oldest giant tortoise in the world, surpassing his 150 year life expectancy by 36 years.

The New York Post reports that he's been photographed with monarchs, politicians and even prisoners held captive on St. Helena during the Boer war of 1899-1902.

The recent discovery of his sexuality may lead Jonathan to be a late-career poster child for marriage equality. St. Helens is currently struggling to legalize same-sex marriage.