KEY POINTS

  • Diego the tortoise may just saved his species from the brink of extinction
  • The 130-year-old tortoise went on a mating spree and fathered almost 40% of the new population
  • The tortoise population went from 15 to 2,000 after Diego was introduced 

Despite his living for more than a century, Diego the tortoise just proved to the world that age is just a number when it comes to going down and dirty.

Diego ridiculous sexual appetite became the talk of the town – and the world – after putting the fate of his species on his shell and saved it from the bring of extinction.

Diego was one of the tortoises that were shipped to the United States between 1928 and 1933. They were then placed at the Charles Darwin Research Station to safeguard their species after it was declared endangered in the 1960s, according to Yahoo News.

Galápagos-tortoise-juvenile-and-adult
Scientists found tortoises with ancestry from an extinct Galápagos species and hope to use them to revive the animals. Luciano Beheregaray/Flinders University

There were only two males and 12 females back then, and Diego knew that it was his time to shine.

In fact, Diego's uncontrollable urge to mate spiked the tortoise population to a mere 15 to whopping 2,000. The Galapagos National Parks told CNN that they believe Diego is the father of almost 40% of that population.

Diego, which Yahoo News estimates to be around 130 years old, will be returning to its natural habitat in March alongside the original adults.

“He's contributed a large percentage to the lineage that we are returning to Espanola. There's a feeling of happiness to have the responsibility of returning that tortoise to his natural state,” Galapagos National Parks director Jorge Carrion told AFP, said CNN.

Around 1,800 tortoises have been returned to Espanola, and the current number is a clear indication that “they are able to grow, they are able to reproduce, they are able to develop,” Carrion added.

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