For Diego, a giant tortoise from the Española Island in the Galápagos in Ecuador, his biggest achievement is saving his entire species from going extinct.

....by producing 800 offsprings!

Exceptional sex drive

According to a report by The New York Times, Diego was one of 15 tortoises selected for a captive breeding program at the Fausto Llerena Tortoise Center on the island of Santa Cruz.

However, Diego was a stud because of his, umm, exceptional sex drive, so much so that he has helped save his species from extinction.

The captive breeding programme reportedly began in 1965 with efforts first dedicated to saving the tortoise population on Pinzón Island, another island in the Galápagos. In 1970, researchers began saving the Española Island tortoises.

At that time, there were only 14 tortoises left: 12 females and two males, before Diego joined the team to become the third male.

Director of the Galápagos National Park, Jorge Carrión, told the news portal that the breeding program helped increase the tortoise population to 2,000 from 15.

Out of that, about 40 percent of the offspring produced belonged to Diego.

The Galápagos National Park said in a statement quoted by The New York Times that this marks the end of the breeding programme as the conservation goals have been met.

After saving his species from extinction, Diego can finally retire.