SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA — A 100-year-old tortoise named, 'Diego' has been credited with saving his species after he was enlisted to help boost species numbers as part of a conservation program.
Set up in 1965 the program has produced more than 2,000 giant tortoises and this time around, Diego is said to have fathered 800 offspring.
Diego was requested from California's San Diego Zoo, however, the Galapagos National Park believes that he was originally from there and was taken during a scientific expedition 80 years ago.
He will be released back to Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean for a well-deserved retirement where he will join a 1,800 strong tortoise population, with park rangers there crediting him with fathering 40% of them.