Betting on the Tortoise in Japan

Rachel Sussman 300? No, 175 is the oldest living tortoise, so nowhere near 2,000.

Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.

Make thee an ark of gopher wood rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

This has been proposed by some to be the key to why animals like the Giant Tortoise can live over 150 years.

In 1981, Kenya banned the export of the pancake tortoise unless given written permission by the Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources.

On the back of its shell, the tortoise has a 90 degree hinge which, when closed, can protect its rear legs and tail from predators.

These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,

However, according to Kreutz there is only a single Chinese reference to a dry mounted needle (built into a pivoted wooden tortoise) which is dated to between 1150 and 1250, and claims that there is no clear indication that Chinese mariners ever used anything but the floating needle in a bowl until the 16th century.