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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Profoundest of Slumbers





















Harriet the tortoise has died, aged 175.

'When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a reptile which appears to relish it so little as to squander more than two-thirds of its existence in joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of slumbers.' (Gilbert White, quoted by Nancy Banks-Smith in today's Guardian)

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