kolkata when adwaita died in march 2006 he was the worlds oldest bachelor his successors from the same country in the south pacific will be a young couple probably aged around 25 to 30 years they will be spared the loneliness suffered by their predecessor who remained single for 255 years before breathing his last at the alipore zoological gardens the zoo is waiting with bated breath to receive two giant tortoises from adwaitas original home aldabra of seychelles islands in the south pacific adwaita or the one and only sanskrit belonged to lord clive who had four seychellesborn tortoises adwaita the only one who had survived found his home in alipore zoo 118 years after clive won the battle of plassey and laid the foundations of british empire in india adwaita not only outlived his master but also the empire he created the ministry of environment and forests is currently liaisoning with the government of seychelles to get the tortoises for alipore zoo at the earliest luckily it was the seychelles government that made the offer as they learnt that the void left by adwaita hasnt been fulfilled even after 13 years they said they wanted to gift alipore zoo with a tortoise but the bengal government has asked for two because it could be extremely solitary for a tortoise to come away from his own country and settle abroad all by himself said a forest official aldabra tortoises are found in the fourisland aldabra atoll of the seychelles a un world heritage site that now has about 152000 giant tortoises the average weighing about 120 kg is thought to be the longest lived of all animals echoing him zoo director k l ghosh said we have asked for two tortoises from seychelles but have no idea when they will land up we are keeping ourselves prepared a large enclosure will be readied for the tortoise couple the state forest department has asked the ministry of environment and forests if the ages of the tortoises could be made known along with other relevant information the ministry in turn has told the state government that since this was a gesture of goodwill between two countries it wouldnt be diplomatic to ask questions i guess well have to accept whatever the seychelles government gives us since this would be a gift from one country to another said a forest official at writers buildings but officials guessed the tortoises will be young say around 25 to 30 years so they could live in the alipore zoo for at least 100 years the lifespan of a tortoise they said usually varied between 150 and 180 years adwaita who died at 255 has been the worlds oldest animal and a grand exception we hope they will live as long as adwaita whose record is yet to be broken so we shall take very care to keep them comfortable and happy said a zoo official state forest department excited that it is to