According to Jonathan the tortoise's vet, there was also a crypto donation request from the same account that falsely announced the tortoise's death.

Corin Cesaric-Epple is a Flex Editor at CNET. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before joining CNET, she covered crime at People Magazine and national and international news at NBC Local Television Stations.

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Jonathan the tortoise, believed to be the world's oldest living land animal, is still with us at 193 years old, contrary to a spurious, and possibly scammy, social media post and a flurry of news outlets mistakenly reporting his death.

On Wednesday, an X account purporting to be Joe Hollins, the veterinarian who cares for Jonathan, made a post that claimed the giant tortoise had died.

But after the post gained attention as media outlets cited it, the Guardian flagged it as a hoax.…