With 800 offspring, ‘very sexually active’ tortoise saves species from extinction

(washingtonpost) - To stop the northern white rhinoceros from slipping into extinction, officials in Kenya put the last remaining male under 24-hour armed protection from poachers and prayed that he wasn’t too old to mate.

When the panda population reached dangerously low numbers, scientists used panda porn to give the notoriously poor breeders the right idea about boosting the species.

If only they had a Diego.

The century-old, extremely sexually active giant hooded tortoise, has single-handedly brought his species back from the brink of extinction.

Fifty years ago, there were 14 members of Chelonoidis hoodensis, in Española, an island of the Galapagos Islands — 12 females and two males.

They did not even need the other guy. Since 1976, Diego has fathered more than 800 young — 2 of every 5 hooded tortoises in existence, according to genetic testing.

“He’s a very sexually active male reproducer. He’s contributed enormously to repopulating the island,” Washington Tapia, a tortoise preservation specialist at Galapagos National Park, told Agence France-Presse.

On the island, where he greets tourists and feasts on native plants and cacti, they call him Super Diego.