You have to applaud Diego’s stamina, he being the tortoise bringing his species back from the brink of extinction.

That species would be Chelonoidis hoodensis, with Diego himself clocking in at more than 100 years old.

That’s not the really impressive bit, which would be the fact that he has fathered more than 800 children. When you consider that 50 years ago there were only two males and 12 females of Diego’s species alive on his home island of Espanola, you can see how valuable his seed-sowing has been for the survival of the species.

The island, in the Galapagos archipelago, now has a thriving population, Mashable with more:

Approximately 2,000 tortoises reside on the island – 800 of which are fathered by Diego. That’s 40 percent of the total species’ population…

While two other male tortoises are also supposed to help with repopulation, Diego is clearly picking up most of the slack.

This from Phys:

“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.

You don’t say. Let’s not forget that it takes two to tango, of course:

Claiming that Diego “single-handedly” saved his species is inaccurate, as it fails to acknowledge the female tortoises who did all the hard work. The six female tortoises are the ones who grew baby tortoises in their bodies and laid eggs, while Diego just had a bunch of unprotected sex.

I can think of a certain politician who could probably father 800 children if he were to live past 100.

[sources:mashable&phys]