Thirty years after it was lost, the owners of a turtle find it alive in an old box!

When Natalie D'Almedia's family was repairing their home's electrical structure in 1982, they thought they had lost their baby turtle, Manuela, for good. 

Manuela was then eight years old, and her mother was still alive, but the family lost track of them due to the chaos in the house at the time. 

Three decades later, family members returned home to sort out the possessions of the father who had died, specifically in 2013, and they found a surprise that they had not thought of.

While the family was sorting through the belongings in his attic, they were shocked to find an old wooden speaker box.

When they opened it, they found the turtle Manuela. 

The "Daily Star" newspaper reported at the time that the family was shocked to find the turtle, especially since it was alive, and one of the family members said, "My mother arrived crying because she did not believe it - they found Manuela!"

Against all imaginable odds during a thirty-year period of hiding in a box, the turtle managed to find a way to survive.

According to the Mirror, veterinarians estimated at the time that she managed to survive eating termite larvae, which were also found in the room.

And the newspaper added that nearly 10 years after the story, Manuela is still alive, although her name has been changed to Manuel after it was revealed that she is a male and not a female.

Turtles are known to have a very high adaptability, and they are also long-lived, as the oldest turtle in the world currently lives on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, with an estimated age of 180 years, and it first arrived on the island as a gift to Sir William Gray Wilson in the year 1882, who later became governor of the island.

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