OAU Museum wins bid to embalm Alagba the tortoise’s body for 100 yrs

The Natural Museum of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has won the bid to preserve Alagba’s corpse for the next 100 years.

Alagba, allegedly the oldest tortoise in Africa died in Ogbomoso king’s palace last week after a brief illness.

Following its death, several museums and individuals were said to had bided to preserve its body for history.

Speaking with The Nation, Prince Oyewumi, said “museums had applied to preserve its body, but Oba Oyewumi has consistently refused their applications. He said the palace should find a way to do what any museum wants to do to the remains and retain Alagba in the palace”.

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But the palace secretary, Mr Toyin Ajamu, unveiled that the Natural Museum of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, had won the bid to preserve Alagba’s corpse for another 100 years.

He said a resident of Ogbomoso also indicated interest to do the same. But the monarch at the end said Ile-Ife Museum should preserve Alagba’s body for 100 years in the palace in order to retain its relevance.

Ajamu said: “Our focus is to preserve it for unborn generations to also see it. Since we all have a common purpose, we agreed to have it in Ogbomoso.”

It was gathered that Alagba, if well preserved, would retain its place in the palace where it lived for most of its life with the hope that it might find its way into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest living creature on earth.

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