My New Personal Hero

[Raw Shark]

This tortoise had so much sex that he's 'saved his entire species'

Posted 2 hours ago by Narjas Zatat in discover

Several animals have gone extinct in the last decade – including the Baiji dolphin, the Spix’s macaw, the Liverpool Pigeon and the West African black rhino.

One animal which has been pulled back from extinction however, is a species of Galapagos giant tortoise - thanks to the sexual exploits of just one male.

Diego is over 100 years old and has fathered some 800 offspring.
Yes, he’s been quite the busy boy…

Diego weighs almost 13 stones, is just shy of a metre long and 1.5 metres tall.

He was initially found at the San Diego zoo, and his species - Chelonoidis hoodensis - was founded then.

Fifty years ago there were only two males and 12 females on the island and they were so spread out they couldn’t be bred successfully.
He was taken to the Galapagos Islands soon after his discovery, and he now shares his enclosure with six other females.

Washington Tapia, a specialist at Galapagos National park, where Diego resides told AFP:

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.

Link.

Diego, I salute you. I hope to live at least half the life that you have, and that I can step up like you in the event of an apocalypse. You are the fucking man.

[fnord]

Well, more material for The Angry Cabbie (somehow).

I may well be talking out my hat here, but doesn't that pose genetic problems in the second generation since out of any random pairing, using article's numbers, approx 16% of any random pair of younger turtles are both fathered by Diego The Horndog? Or is that low enough to not be a concern?

[Raw Shark]

Well, more material for The Angry Cabbie (somehow).

Oh, I'll definitely squeeze something out of this one. I've been laughing about it all day.

I may well be talking out my hat here, but doesn't that pose genetic problems in the second generation since out of any random pairing, using article's numbers, approx 16% of any random pair of younger turtles are both fathered by Diego The Horndog? Or is that low enough to not be a concern?

Well, it's not ideal, but it's better than extinction. The cheetah experienced a serious evolutionary bottleneck, and they're doing pretty okay again. And for bonus points, they got to be the fastest thing that isn't built by talking monkeys. You can do a lot worse than having a Dad who has lived 100 years. All of his kids will eventually have some hot tortoise sex with each other and the genes will diversify again after a while.

[General Zod]

So basically he's the Genghis Khan of the tortoise world.

[Raw Shark]

So basically he's the Genghis Khan of the tortoise world.

Yeah, except that he had a good reason and Khan was kind of just being an asshole. Diego, you rock the socks.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Well, more material for The Angry Cabbie (somehow).

I may well be talking out my hat here, but doesn't that pose genetic problems in the second generation since out of any random pairing, using article's numbers, approx 16% of any random pair of younger turtles are both fathered by Diego The Horndog? Or is that low enough to not be a concern?

It is a concern, but not a huge one.

For background, in a captive breeding program sometimes initial numbers are so low that inbreeding is an issue. It can be mitigated through ruthless eugenics, and chances are this has been done.

[fnord]

Thanks, Alyrium.

So I was talking out my hat a bit - but missed that avoiding inbreeding problems by species extinction is counterproductive.