Tu'i Malila (1777 – 16 May 1966) was a
tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...
that Captain
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...
was traditionally said to have given to the royal family of
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
.
She was a female
radiated tortoise (''Astrochelys radiata'') from
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
.
Although believed to have been a male during its life, examination after the tortoise's death suggested it was female.
The name means ''King Malila'' in the
Tongan language
Tongan (English pronunciation: or ; ') is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga. It has around 187,000 speakers. It uses the word order verb–subject–object.
Related languages
Tongan is on ...
.
Life
According to one story, Tu'i Malila was one of a pair of tortoises given by Captain Cook to the Tongan royal family upon his visit to Tonga in July 1777.
The other tortoise reportedly died shortly after Cook's visit.
[Tropicalities]
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', June 1966, p53 This story has been discounted on the basis that Cook made no mention of the event in his journal, although it has been suggested that the tortoise may have been the gift of a member of Cook's crew instead.
According to other sources,
George Tupou I obtained her from a vessel which called in
Haʻapai
Haʻapai is a group of islands, islets, reefs, and shoals in the central part of Tonga. It has a combined land area of . The Tongatapu island group lies to its south, and the Vavaʻu group lies to its north. Seventeen of the Haʻapai islands are ...
in the first half of the 19th century.
The tortoise was taken to
Muʻa, where it was kept in a compound named Malila, from which it took its name.
[ Around 1921, Sālote Tupou III moved the tortoise to the ]Royal Palace
This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent.
Africa
* Abdin Palace, Cairo
* Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo
* Koubbeh Palace, Cairo
* Tahra Palace, Cairo
* Menelik Palace
* Jubilee Palace
* Guenete Leul Palace
* Imperial Palace- ...
.[ Despite being kicked by a horse and run over several times, the tortoise continued its life, although it was left blind and with a badly wounded right-hand side.][
During ]Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
's Royal Tour of Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
in 1953, Tu'i Malila was one of the first animals shown to the monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
on her official visit to the island nation.
The tortoise died on 16 May 1966.[
A ]Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was est ...
dispatch of the tortoise makes an appearance as an epigraph in Philip K. Dick's '' Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''
See also
* Adwaita
* Harriet
*Jonathan (tortoise)
Jonathan (hatched ) is a Seychelles giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa''), a subspecies of the Aldabra giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea''); he is the oldest known living land animal. Jonathan resides on the island of Saint ...
* List of long-living organisms
References
{{Named turtles
1777 animal births
1966 animal deaths
Individual tortoises