At an estimated age of more than 150 years, Speed had been in geriatric decline for some time, with arthritis and other maladies. Keepers at San Diego Zoo had used acupuncture and hydrotherapy to treat his arthritis and other ailments. Image caption Speed was brought to California in the 1930s as part of efforts to preserve the endangered species from the Galapagos Islands, off Ecuador 
 
 A giant Galapagos tortoise more than 150 years old has been put down at a zoo in California. With Speed gone, the zoo has 13 Galapagos tortoises. The group has produced more than 90 offspring sent to other zoos, many of them sired by Speed.
– The San Diego Zoo has said goodbye to its oldest creature, which may have been the oldest creature in America: Speed, a giant Galapagos tortoise who was born around the same time the Civil War ended and who came to America the same year as King Kong. The zoo says Speed, who arrived in 1933 as part of a breeding program to save the endangered species, had been suffering from arthritis and other health problems for some time and was treated with remedies including hydrotherapy and acupuncture, the Los Angeles Times reports. Unlike "Lonesome George," who died in 2012 at the age of 100, Speed leaves dozens of descendants, the BBC reports.