Meet Diego the tortoise who had so much sex he saved his species

An elderly giant tortoise with an unparalleled libido has become an international icon for saving his species from extinction.

Diego, who is believed to be more than 100 years old, has spent 44 years as a key player in a tortoise-breeding programme on the Galapagos Islands.

His work has proved so fruitful that the scheme is no longer needed, and the four-legged lothario is being retired from his labours and released back into the wild.

Diego was captured at some point between 1900 and 1959 on Española, the southernmost island in the Galapagos archipelago, the Galapagos National Park said in a statement.

He spent 30 years as an exhibit at San Diego Zoo in California, before he was found to belong to a highly endangered species, Chelonoidis hoodensis.

Only 14 members of the giant tortoise species were left on Española by 1974, 12 of which were female. Some of them are understood to have gone decades without encountering another of their kind.

In 1976, a virile new member – Diego – entered the throng, bringing with him “active and vocal” mating habits, conservation specialist James P. Gibbs told the New York Times.

From a captive breeding centre on the island of Santa Cruz, Diego spent four decades helping to drive his species’ population up by around 2,000.

Paternity tests suggest he is responsible for about 40 per cent of the tortoises born via the breeding programme while another male, known only as E5, fathered the remaining 60 per cent.

E5’s more reserved personality – and less striking name – means he has received less attention than his more outgoing love rival, despite his sexual successes.

Scientists believe the breeding programme has been so successful that it call now thrive without structured help and can therefore be shut down.

And so it is time for Diego to return to his birth island of Española and enjoy his Pacific Ocean retirement in peace.