Century-Old Tortoise Has Enough Sex to Save Entire Species

It seems like only yesterday that we last covered tortoise mating habits. (In fact, it was three weeks ago — we had a story about a tortoise named Touché who ran away from home and was found “mounting” a drain pipe cover.) But here we are again, in the brave, taboo world of tortoise sex.

A news story from AFP went viral this week about a very special tortoise named Diego. What’s so special about Diego? Just the fact that he has around 800 kids. Here’s a link to the original story, in case you want all the gory details.

According to AFP, as recently as 50 years ago there were only two male tortoises and a dozen females left on Española Island, the Galápagos Island off the coast of Ecuador that one particular subspecies of the Galápagos giant tortoise — specifically, Chelonoidis hoodensis — calls home.

Diego and his mates changed all that with the power of love. Hit it, Huey!

Now, the number of Española giant tortoises in the wild numbers over a thousand. It’s estimated that Diego fathered around 40% of the Española tortoises currently alive today. Bless you, Diego, you horny old dog. I mean, tortoise. He’s not a dog.

What do you think? Would you hook up with Diego if you were a female tortoise, or is 100 too old for you? Let us know in the comments below or @WhatsTrending on Twitter!