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21st Aug 2019

This 100-year-old Galapagos giant tortoise has fathered over 1,000 children

Melissa Carton

I thought I was stressed out with two kids.

100-year-old Galapagos giant tortoise Diego has been celebrated the world over by helping to save his species from going extinct.

The only male left Diego has done his part by not only helping to father a few children but by fathering over a thousand!

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When it was discovered by in the 1970s that Diego’s species of Tortoise Chelonoidis hoodensis was nearly extinct, a group of researchers at the San Diego Zoo, where Diego was living at the time, decided to take him back to Espanola island, in order to save the species.

Since Diego was returned over 40 years ago he has helped to bring hundreds of little baby tortoises into the world, therefore, saving his entire species from extinction.

While those who have worked with Diego are unsure just how old the giant tortoise is it is believed that he is at least 100 years old and possibly older.

The Galapagos tortoise is the largest tortoise species and now thanks to Diego and his ever-growing family they have been officially knocked off the almost extinct list of endangered species.

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animals,news