After Siring Hundreds, Dirty Old Man Goes Home

He has what the BBC calls a "species-saving sex drive," and after having fathered up to 800 offspring in the pursuit of bringing his species back from the brink, Diego the Galapagos tortoise is headed back home to the island of Española. There, he'll join a bolstered population of about 1,800 tortoises, but it might feel a little like a family reunion: Park rangers reckon that the lusty Diego fathered at least 40% of them. "He's contributed a large percentage to the lineage that we are returning to Española," says the Galápagos National Parks service's director. "There's a feeling of happiness to have the possibility of returning that tortoise to his natural state." Diego was part of a now-concluded breeding program on Santa Cruz island, and it's believed that he hasn't set foot on his home turf in 80 or so years. Officials believe the old lech is more than 100 years old. (More giant tortoise stories.)