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. 
 
 The tortoise, known as Speed, had been in geriatric decline for some time. 
 
 Keepers at San Diego Zoo had used acupuncture and hydrotherapy to treat his arthritis and other ailments. 
 
 Speed had been brought to California in 1933 as part of a programme to preserve the endangered species from the Volcan Cerro Azul island of the Galapagos, off Ecuador. 
 
 Thirteen Galapagos tortoises remain at the zoo. 
 
 The group has produced more than 90 offspring which can be found in many other zoos. 
 
 Many of them have been sired by Speed. ||||| Sad news from the San Diego Zoo: The Galapagos tortoise Speed has died. 
 
 At an estimated age of more than 150 years, Speed had been in geriatric decline for some time, with arthritis and other maladies. Keepers treated him with medication, hydrotherapy, physical therapy, even acupuncture. 
 
 Finally, a decision was made Friday to euthanize Speed, who had been at the zoo since 1933. 
 
 He was brought to the zoo as part of an early effort to preserve the endangered species from the Volcan Cerro Azul Island of the Galapagos Islands, off Ecuador. 
 
 For years Speed and other Galapagos tortoises resided at the Children's Zoo, where youngsters were allowed to ride them. (A practice long since abandoned). 
 
 In 2010, the massive, lumbering herbivores — the males can weigh more than 500 pounds — were moved to a new $1-million habitat near the reptile house. 
 
 While tortoises do not get the public notice of charismatic vertebrates such as pandas, koalas, elephants, polar bears and big cats, they do have their own fan base. 
 
 Members of the San Diego Turtle and Tortoise Society are frequent visitors to the habitat, keeping tabs on each tortoise by its number (Speed was 5) and personality. Speed, in his earlier decades, was an alpha male and given to butting his leathery head with other males in dominance skirmishes. 
 
 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.