• Animals
  • Art
  • Beauty
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Funny
  • Health
  • Life
  • Parenting
  • Travel
Skip to content
  • Animals
  • Art
  • Beauty
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Funny
  • Health
  • Life
  • Parenting
  • Travel

  • Animals
  • Art
  • Beauty
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Funny
  • Health
  • Life
  • Parenting
  • Travel
Sunday 29 January 2023

Sex-Addicted Galapagos Tortoise Has Saved His Species From Extinction

[rsnippet name="ad/Articles_Below_Subject_Line"]
ecbaa1ecb298 15.png?resize=648,365 - Sex-Addicted Galapagos Tortoise Has Saved His Species From Extinction

A sex-mad tortoise which is over 100 years old has single-handedly saved his species from extinction.

ADVERTISEMENT

Diego has fathered 800 babies over the years, turning the tide for his species on the island of Espanola in the Galapagos islands, off the coast of South America.

‘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.

ADVERTISEMENT

3856102200000578-3788645-image-a-31_1473841496795

Diego (pictured) gets his name because he was brought to the Galapagos islands from San Diego Zoo in California in the 1960s

ADVERTISEMENT

Diego is a Chelonoidis hoodensis, a species of Galapagos tortoise found in the wild only on Espanola.

The archipelago in the Pacific Ocean was made famous by Charles Darwin’s studies of its breathtaking biodiversity.

Darwin’s theories of the survival of the fittest have been underlined by the libidinous Diego who has steered his species back from the brink.

ADVERTISEMENT

There were only two males and 12 females on the island 50 years ago before Diego

Diego now lives at a tortoise breeding centre on nearby Santa Cruz island where he is still mating with his harem of six females.

He weighs 82 kilograms (13 stone) and is nearly 90 centimetres (35 inches) long.

ADVERTISEMENT

38560d3300000578-3788645-image-a-32_1473841583589

Diego is definitely the alpha male among the three male tortoises of his species which were tasked with repopulating Espanola

ADVERTISEMENT

Diego was found at the San Diego Zoo – hence his name – after Chelonoidis hoodensis was identified as a species and an international campaign was launched to find more of the rare tortoises.

‘We don’t know exactly how or when he arrived in the United States. He must have been taken from Espanola sometime between 1900 and 1959 by a scientific expedition,’ said Tapia.

ADVERTISEMENT

After being located at the zoo in California, Diego was brought back to the Galapagos in 1976 and put in the captive breeding program.

Little did scientists realize just how effective he was, until six years ago.

‘We did a genetic study and we discovered that he was the father of nearly 40 percent of the offspring released into the wild on Espanola,’ Tapia told AFP.

ADVERTISEMENT

In all, around 2,000 tortoises have been released on the small island. Thanks to the program, the species is no longer facing extinction.

38560e3a00000578-3788645-image-a-33_1473841620343

ADVERTISEMENT

Diego (pictured) is the father of 40 percent of the tortoises on the island of Espanola

‘I wouldn’t say (the species) is in perfect health, because historical records show there probably used to be more than 5,000 tortoises on the island. But it’s a population that’s in pretty good shape – and growing, which is the most important,’ said Tapia.

ADVERTISEMENT

Of the 15 species of giant tortoise known to have originated in the Galapagos, three have gone extinct – victims of 18th-century pirates who plundered the islands’ fragile ecosystem.

Diego’s species has also been introduced on the island of Santa Fe, where a genetically similar one, Chelonoidis spp, disappeared more than 150 years ago.

ADVERTISEMENT

Not all critically endangered tortoises rise to the challenge as Diego has.

Hopes for another threatened species, Chelonoidis abingdoni, faded when its last known survivor died in 2012 at more than 100 years old.

Known as Lonesome George, he had refused for years to breed in captivity.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

 

Please remember to LIKE our Facebook page and SHARE this story with your friends and family!

Posts

cutest videos cover.jpg - Today's Cutest Animals That You Do Not Want To Miss!
Life

Today’s Cutest Animals That You Do Not Want To Miss!

October 8, 2020
ec8aa4ed81aceba6b0ec83b7 2018 02 19 ec98a4eca084 11 23 15.png - Sibling Fighting Even Before Birth
Funny • Life

Sibling Fighting Even Before Birth

February 19, 2018
unborn.jpg - Mom Was Told By Doctor She Had Lost Her Baby But It Turns Out To Be False
Life

Mom Was Told By Doctor She Had Lost Her Baby But It Turns Out To Be False

February 19, 2018
wife.jpg - Mom Whose Heart Has Stopped Successfully Recovers And Gives Birth To Her Baby
Life

Mom Whose Heart Has Stopped Successfully Recovers And Gives Birth To Her Baby

February 19, 2018
rest.jpg - People Raise Money For The Restaurant Owner Who Had No Choice But To Close Doors After Wife's Death
Life

People Raise Money For The Restaurant Owner Who Had No Choice But To Close Doors After Wife’s Death

February 19, 2018

Pages

  • privacy policy
  • sunnyvibes
  • Terms of Service

[rsnippet name="sitename" multi-site="true"] Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy   [rsnippet name="termsofservice" multi-site="true"]   [rsnippet name="editors" multi-site="true"] [rsnippet name="naver-post" multi-site="true"]