Credits: Social Media
‘Oldest dog in history’ loses world record title as Guinness launches investigation
The oldest dog in history has been controversially stripped of his title as Guinness World Records opens a new investigation.
Back in October 2023, the world mourned the death of the oldest dog to have ever lived, Bobi, who passed away at the ripe old age of 31 years and 163 days. Now, three months later, Bobi has been controversially stripped of his world record title as the Guinness World Records launches an investigation into his real age.
Oldest dog ever loses world record months after passing away
Bobi was crowned the worlds oldest dog by the Guinness World Records back in February last year when he was (allegedly) 30 years and 268 days old: already an astonishingly old pupper.
Bobi was a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a type of livestock guardian dog hailing from Portugal, which has an average life expectancy of around 12-14 years old – which is why so many people were initially doubtful about a legitimate age.
Despite his date of birth being reportedly confirmed by both the Portuguese governments pet database and the National Union of Veterinarians, skeptics were suspicious about Bobi having white paws in older photos, yet brown paws in more recent photos.
- UGLY OR NOT: Stray cat resembling Baby Yoda and Dobby finally has a home after 58 million views on TikTok
Unfortunately, those suspicions have now been given merit, with Wired claiming that Bobi and his ripe old age were only registered with the Portuguese government in 2022, a few months before being awarded the coveted world record title.
According to the article, Bobis owners had declared that he had been born in 1992 when he was registered with the database, but failed to provide the correct paperwork to prove it at the time.
A representative from the Guinness World Records told The Times that they were now pausing the title category and would be launching an investigation to figure this whole mess out.
While our review is ongoing we have decided to temporarily pause both the record titles for ‘oldest dog living’ and ‘oldest dog ever’ – just until all of our findings are in place.
The Times noted that Bobis age may have been incorrect due to poor fact-checking on the part of the adjudicators, rather than any malicious intent on the part of his owners.
We are reviewing how we verify animal age records at the moment. It’s likely many of our record categories will require a second opinion for verification in the future.”
- CLEVER GIRL: Scientists say your dog might be a genius if they can learn toy names in under 30 minutes
What are some of the oldest animals in history?
Whilst the title of oldest dog in history remains vacant, there are plenty of geriatric animals that remain in the Guinness World Records official archive:
- Oldest animal ever Ming the Quahog Clam, 507 years old
- Oldest cat ever Cr�me Puff, 38 years and 3 days old
- Oldest bird ever Cookie the Cockatoo, 83 years and 58 days old
- Oldest non-human primate Cheeta the Chimpanzee, 80 years old
- Oldest mammal Bowhead Whale, estimated 211 years old
- Oldest fish Greenland Shark, estimated 392 years old
- Oldest horse Old Billy, 62 years old
- Oldest rabbit Flopsy, 18 years and 10 months old
- Oldest goldfish Tish, 43 years old
Interestingly, the oldest living animal is a Seychelles giant tortoise called Jonathan, who lives on the island of St Helena and is approximately 191-192 years old.
Its unclear how quickly the investigation into Bobis age will last; currently, the oldest living dog is a Chihuahua mix called Spike who recently celebrated his 24th birthday in the US.
- VIRAL FOR GOOD REASON: Jealous husky tries to steal attention away from baby brother in super-cute video
