Pets are great, and although I never owned one, I was always fascinated. One Brazilian family thought their pet turtle was gone forever after they lost it 30 years ago. As it turned out, the turtle is alive and well after all those years without the help of humans.

Apparently, a family member died at the same house the turtle was from, and thus they returned to clean. When they got inside a locked storage room at the home, the family members were surprised when they came across the same turtle from 30 years ago.

“I put the box on the pavement for the rubbish men to collect, and a neighbor said, ‘you’re not throwing out the turtle as well are you?’ ” the younger Almeida told Brazil’s Globo website. “I looked and saw her. At that moment, I turned white, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

Strangely enough, the turtle appeared to have been surviving on insects and drinking condensation according to a Veterinarian. The vet also said that red-footed turtles like this one is capable of surviving up to two years without food, so obviously it had to be eating something throughout all these years.

Impressive stuff. Hmm, I’m thinking for my first pet, I’ll get a turtle. Then I’ll experiment with it in hopes to create the world’s first mutated turtle….Ninja Turtle. Wish me luck folks.

[via MNN, image via The Turtle Source]