Diego the tortoise is helping save his species by having lots of sex

BY SOPHIE HIRSH From Mashable

If you are a Chelonoidis hoodensis tortoise, there’s a 40 percent chance that Diego may be your dad.

Diego the tortoise is over 100 years old, 175 pounds, and thanks to his high sex drive, the father of about 800 children.

Diego is a Chelonoidis hoodensis, a species found primarily in Espanola, an island in the Galapagos archipelago. Approximately 2,000 tortoises reside on the island – 800 of which are fathered by Diego. That’s 40 percent of the total species’ population.

As reported by Yahoo via AFP, Diego and six female tortoises reside at a tortoise breeding center on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos. While two other male tortoises are also supposed to help with repopulation, Diego is clearly picking up most of the slack.

Sadly, the six female tortoises that Diego shares an enclosure with aren’t getting the same recognition as Diego.

The Daily Mail writes, “A sex-mad tortoise which is over 100 years old has single-handedly saved his species from extinction.”

Claiming that Diego “single-handedly” saved his species is inaccurate, as it fails to acknowledge the female tortoises who did all the hard work. The six female tortoises are the ones who grew baby tortoises in their bodies and laid eggs, while Diego just had a bunch of unprotected sex.

Hopefully Diego helps his babes dig their nests and take care of the eggs while they’re waiting to hatch.

[H/T: Yahoo]

IMAGES:
RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
We assume Diego is GGG.
IMAGE: RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Diego, a tortoise of the endangered Chelonoidis hoodensis subspecies from Española Island, is seen in a breeding centre at the Galapagos National Park on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos archipelago, located some 1,000 km off Ecuador’s coast, on September 10, 2016. / AFP / RODRIGO BUENDIA (Photo credit should read RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP/Getty Images)

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