Diego is finally going home after saving his species from extinction with his impeccably high sex drive (Picture: EPA)

A 100-year-old giant tortoise has been credited with saving his species from extinction with his legendary libido.

Diego is set to return to the wild on the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean after fathering around 800 children.

He was one of 14 male tortoises selected in the 1960s to take part in a breeding programme on Santa Cruz Island, off the southwestern coast of California.

The programme is coming to a close following great success, producing more than 2,000 giant tortoises since it began.


Around 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego’s species – Chelonoidis hoodensis – alive on Espanola.

The programme is ending after producing 2,000 giant tortoises (Picture: EPA)

Technicians from the Park Directorate measure and weigh baby turtles that hatched this year in Galapagos (Picture: EPA)

But when the 80kg tortoise returns to his native island – after nearly 80 years away – he will join an 1,800-strong population.



He has fathered at least 40% of these animals, the Galápagos National Parks service (PNG) estimate.

Jorge Carrion, the park’s director, told AFP: ‘He’s contributed a large percentage to the lineage that we are returning to Española.

‘There’s a feeling of happiness to have the possibility of returning that tortoise to his natural state.’

The PNG believes he was originally taken from the Galapagos in the first half of the 20th century by a scientific expedition.

Diego will have fathered 40% of the giant tortoises on his native island (Picture: EPA)

He lived in California’s San Diego Zoo before being called up to the plate to rescue his species.

The hero tortoise is currently in quarantine to prevent him from carrying seeds from plants that are not native to his island.

The Galapagos Islands, situated 563 miles west of mainland Ecuador, were made famous by Charles Darwin’s studies of their breathtaking biodiversity.

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