Diego, a Galapagos giant tortoise, has fathered an estimated 800 offspring, almost single-handedly rebuilding the species’ population on their native island, Española, the southernmost in the Galapagos Archipelago. “He’s a very sexually active male reproducer. He’s contributed enormously to repopulating the island,” said Washington Tapia, a tortoise preservation specialist at Galapagos National Park. Diego is a Chelonoidis hoodensis, a species found in the wild only on Española. The island is one of the oldest in the Galapagos, the Pacific archipelago made famous by Charles Darwin’s studies of its breathtaking biodiversity. Around 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego’s species alive on Española, and they were too spread out to reproduce.

Sexploits of tortoise save Galapagos species. (2016, September 15). Philippine Star, p. A20.