420-Year-Old Tortoise Dies At Alaafin’s Palace In Oyo

By Opeyemi Adelakun

A tortoise known as Baba, believed by the Alaafin’s Palace in Oyo to have been about 420 years old, has died and been buried.

Baba reportedly fell ill on Monday, stopped eating and later died, according to a statement issued in Ibadan on Thursday by the Director of Media and Publicity to the Alaafin, Bode Durojaiye.

The tortoise was said to have lived at the palace for generations and was cared for by successive Alaafins, becoming one of the notable relics associated with the ancient Oyo Kingdom.

“Baba was more than a turtle in status. He represented a part of the oral history of the Yoruba race. Now, the Alaafin has lost an ageless companion,” Durojaiye said.

According to the palace, oral tradition traced Baba’s origin to Oyo-Ile, the former capital of the Oyo Empire, before the animal was brought to the present palace in Oyo town.

Its reported age, size and long association with the palace turned Baba into a tourist attraction, with visitors reportedly coming to see the animal.

Two palace officials were responsible for caring for the tortoise, which was fed with watermelon, corn pap wrapped in leaves and grass.

The palace described Baba as a longstanding symbol of its oral history and said successive monarchs had inherited the animal as part of the relics associated with their predecessors.

The statement also linked Baba’s place in Oyo’s cultural history to Yoruba beliefs concerning the relationship between the living, the dead and the unborn, referencing Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman.

The palace said Baba was regarded by many in Oyo as its oldest resident and had become a familiar presence to generations of visitors.

“Baba fell ill on Monday, just a little sickness and couldn’t eat anymore. Then he died. Just like that.

“He had since been buried. Good night, Baba,” the statement said.

While the palace described Baba as an ancient creature and attached an estimated age of 420 years to it, the age claim was presented as part of the palace’s oral history rather than a scientifically verified lifespan.