An April Fool’s prank involving a fake death announcement for Jonathan, the world’s oldest living land animal and nearly 200-year-old tortoise, stirred online activity on Wednesday. The hoax was initiated by someone posing as Jonathan’s vet, who falsely reported his passing on social media.
The fabricated story spread rapidly across various news platforms before being debunked. Later, the prankster confirmed it was an April Fool’s Day joke aimed at mocking those who fell for it, following a post that garnered over 1.7 million views.
“1.7M views is crazy on a post about Jonathan dying today,” the account posted later in the day after the hoax was exposed. “Yes, he’s still alive. Did anyone send crypto?” they added, providing a Solana contract address for an “Oldest Animal” meme coin named JONATHAN.
The same Solana address appeared in the social media bio and on the profile page of the individual responsible. While there were indications that the individual solicited crypto donations, it remains unclear if those posts were removed or if the provided token account was mistakenly believed to be a personal Solana address.
One post did mention “taking a donation,” yet continued to promote the JONATHAN meme coin. The Solana-based token, launched in July 2025, had mostly remained obscure until it briefly spiked to over $380,000 market cap on Thursday following the hoax. However, it quickly reverted back to around a $50,000 market cap, according to DEXScreener data.
Despite this brief surge, no traders made significant profits; the most successful trader earned less than $2,500 and had exited their JONATHAN position two days before the prank’s announcement, missing out on potential gains.
I just received this proof of life from the governor of St Helena pic.twitter.com/7CR7hvNxFB
— Helena Horton (@horton_official) April 2, 2026
Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise believed to be at least 193 years old, lives on St. Helena, a British overseas territory. The island’s governor provided a proof-of-life photo of the tortoise eating leaves to the Guardian on Thursday morning, reassuring those who mistakenly mourned him.