Galapagos giant tortoise has so much sex he retires after saving his species
Diego the giant tortoise was part of the San Diego Zoo's breeding program.
By Julia Jacobo
January 12, 2020
A womanizing tortoise whose rampant sex life may have single-handedly saved his entire species from extinction has retired from his playboy lifestyle, returning to the wild with his mission accomplished.
Diego's unstoppable libido was credited as a major reason for the survival of his fellow giant tortoises on Espanola, part of the Galapagos Islands, after being shipped over from the San Diego Zoo as part of a breeding program.
The Galapagos giant tortoise, estimated to be about 130 years old and part of the Chelonoidis hoodensis species that lives on the Galapagos island of Espanola, was one of the tortoises brought to the U.S. between 1928 and 1933 and was later placed into the Charles Darwin Research Station for protection after the species was declared critically endangered in the 1960s, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Diego spent 30 years at the San Diego Zoo's breeding program before he returned back to Ecuador in 1977, joining his fellow tortoises at the Charles Darwin Research Station.
Ecuador’s Environmental Ministry announced Friday that it decided to end the 40-year captive breeding program on Espanola Island, demonstrating the recovery of habitat conditions and of the tortoise population, according to the Galapagos Conservancy.
The population went from 15 to 2,000 tortoises due to the program, according to the conservancy. As many as 40% of the current population of tortoises are thought to be descendants of Diego, San Diego Zoo officials said.
The management program is also about to implement ecological restoration of the island, which includes the eradication of introduced species and the regeneration of cacti. The island's ecosystems are currently adequate enough to support the growing population of tortoises, the conservancy said.
Closing the breeding program will include the return of the adults -- 12 females and two males -- originally found on the island, who will then be released in their natural habitat in March after a quarantine period to eliminate risks of seed dispersal from plants that are not typical of the island.
The species is still listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.
Galapagos giant tortoise has so much sex he retires after saving his species
A Galapagos giant tortoise estimated to be about 130 years old is retiring after having so much sex that he saved his species.
This playboy tortoise had so much sex he saved his entire species. Now he's going home
A tortoise named Diego may have saved his species from extinction due to his unstoppable libido, which was credited as a major reason for the survival of his fellow giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands.
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