Hero 100-Yr-Old Turtle Fathers 800 Kids to Prevent Species Extinction

One of the greatest heroes of his time, Diego the Galapagos giant tortoise has officially entered retirement. The 100-year old turtle did more for his species than arguably almost every other being in existence. At one point, Diego was one of two of the last males of Chelonoidis hoodensis of Espanola Island. Then Diego, part of a captive breeding program started nearly 50 years ago, did what any true hero would in that situation. He started getting it on with the lady turtles, siring more than 800 more of his kind.
Thanks to the noble hard work of Diego, the island has seen a huge increase in the species, as they now have nearly 2,000. The aged Diego and his heroic sex drive that saved his kind now get to retire to the island, where he will join his offspring (estimated around 40 percent of the turtles on the island).
“There’s a feeling of happiness to have the possibility of returning that tortoise to his natural state,” a director for Galapagos National Parks service told the BBC.
What exactly is his natural state and what does this mean for Diego and his main hobby of impregnating turtles?
“He might actually amp it up,” James P. Gibbs, a professor of environmental and forest biology at the State University of New York in Syracuse, told the Washington Post. “I don’t know — we shall see.”
Hell yeah, Diego. Normally, we’d include some sort of video with these posts. But some things are best left between a turtle and his dozens of sexual partners. And now Diego gets to go home, decades after he left to embark on his journey to save a species. Hopefully, the legendary turtle Dad is given a hero’s welcome upon his return. What you did before was for your species, who you impregnate now, that’s just for you big guy.
“Diego helped save his species by procreating 800 turtles.” https://t.co/AenNTGfx8n
— Mark Cavitt (@MarkCavitt) January 13, 2020