This 100 year-old tortoise has had so much sex he’s saved his species

What's the biggest achievement you've pulled off thanks to sex?

Did you learn to play an instrument? Practise another language? Get really into art? People have done amazing things thanks to sex. Bill Murray spend the best part of 34 years learning to become a better man because he wanted to hook up with Andie MacDowell in Groundhog Day. You can do a lot of good things thanks to sex is what we're saying. The latest evidence of that is the exploits Diego the tortoise, who managed to save his entire species thanks to his romantic skills. It appears the Chelonoidis hoodensis species – which is only found on Espanola, an archipelago in the Pacific - was nearing extinction in the 1970s, so a search  began to find any tortoises of the same species in captivity that could save the great animal. Enter the appropriately named Diego from San Diego Zoo. According to indy100, Diego the tortoise is over 100 years old and has fathered over 800 tortoise babies. https://twitter.com/AFP/status/776002578106548225 Weighing in at almost 13 stone, the tortoise lothario is close to 100 years old and measures in at one metre long and 1.5m tall. According to a specialist who works at Diego's home, Galapagos National Park, Diego has been spreading his seed all over the place.

"We did a genetic study and we discovered that he was the father of nearly 40 per cent of the offspring released into the wild on Espanola. "I wouldn't say [the species] is in perfect health, because historical records show there probably used to be more than 5,000 tortoises on the island. But it's a population that's in pretty good shape - and growing, which is the most important."

Who ever said tortoises were slow? Read more...