A Family Finds a Missing Tortoise. The Reptile Went Missing Thirty Years Ago. And... It’s Alive and Kicking Today!

This story is so simple and at the same time so crazy that you can’t help smiling reading it. It's a story of a tortoise that went missing 30 years ago but most likely it has never left its home.

Nathalye De Almeida is an adult woman today, who has been living all her life in Rio De Janeiro. When she was a child, she had her favorite pet – pretty big tortoise called Manuela. The girl loved spending time with the animal playing a number of games. Unfortunately, one day the pet disappeared. And nobody could figure out what exactly had happened although they were searching high and low.

Years went by and Manuela was long forgotten. Nathalye was no longer a girl but she grew up to become a woman. One day she was struck by another disaster – her grandfather died. It brought the girl back home where she had spent her childhood years. At one point someone came up with the idea to browse all the things left by the granddad in the attic. But nobody really expected what they were just about to come across...

While browsing all the bits and pieces in the attic, someone suddenly noticed an unusual movement in one of the attic's corners. After a closer look they realized it was a very old tortoise – the one that Manuela lost 30 years before.

In this hard time for the Almeida family that came as a somewhat unexpected yet very big relief.

If you think this is the end of surprises here, then you're wrong. An examination by a vet soon revealed that Manuela was in fact … Manuel! Of course the bigger question here is how on earth the animal managed to survive thirty years in the attic. Of course the family want to believe that somehow it managed to get, for example eating termite larva. A harder question is where it took water from. Or perhaps there was someone jealous of Nathaly's tortoise and 'helped' the animal disappear. This question, however, perhaps shall never be answered.