A 183-year-old Aldabra giant tortoise Jonathan is thought to be the oldest known living animal on Earth.

An unhealthy diet of twigs that the tortoise consumed on the British island territory of St. Helena (map), off Africa's western coast robbed Jonathan of his senses of sight and smell.

However, things changed in 2014, when local veterinarian Joe Hollins noticed the plight of Jonathan and began feeding the reptile a comparatively nutritious menu, including bananas, apples, carrots, cucumbers, and guava.

As per Hollins' latest update on a St. Helena information website after a year, Jonathan hit the headlines again and was seemingly healthier. Hollins wrote on December 7 that the feeding brought a surprising chance in him.

Hollins mentioned, “His once blunt and crumbly beak has become sharp and lethal, so he was probably suffering from microdeficiencies [sic] of vitamins, minerals and trace elements”.

The Aldabra giant tortoise is also called the Seychelles giant tortoise, and can grow up to 550 pounds (250 kilograms). He is a native to Indian Ocean’s several islands.

The species most island populations went extinct in the 18th and 19th centuries when people used to hunt them for food. Presently, the tortoises have been listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Most of the left population of wild Aldabra giant tortoises in the world lives on the Aldabra Atoll (map), which is an outer island of the Seychelles near Madagascar, but Jonathan has been living on Saint Helena since 1882.

The Seychelles News Agency reported that at that time he was probably a gift to the British governor, and since then have been living on the grounds of the governor's plantation house.