Diego the tortoise , Redeemer of his species , will soon riposte to his home in the Galapagos islands almost 80 years after being taken from it . As part of a conservation program , he has mother hundreds of teeny tortoises , helping to play the population up from a bare handful of reptiles to around 2,000 over the past few decades .

Diego is a native of Española Island and is known as an Española giant tortoise ( Chelonoidis hoodensis ) . Almost eight decades ago , he was pluck from the island by a scientific hostile expedition and demand to San Diego Zoo in California . But in the 1960s , a fosterage program was set up up to test to save his dwindling species – there were just 12 females and two males alive on Española in 1970 , and they were too spread out across the island to breed with each other .

Diego was convey to Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos to join the platform , along with 14 fellow Española tortoise . Together , they produced one C of baby tortoise that were released back onto their native island . Now , Española ’s universe stands at about 2,000 gargantuan tortoises , and Diego play a big role in that repopulation .

It seems Diego is a particularly virile reptilian , fathering far more babies than his fellow captive breeders . A family tortoise , he ’s fathered 800 offspring and is trust to be the patriarch of about 40 percent of the tortoises on Española today .

" About 1,800 tortoises have been returned to Española and now with raw procreation we have some 2,000 tortoises , " Jorge Carrion , film director of the Galapagos National Parks service , toldAFP . " This show that they are able to mature , they are capable to procreate , they are able to develop . "

As with the plight of many animals around the world , the decline of the Española tortoise and its relatives on other Galapagos islands has mainly been due to humans . Long ago , whaling ship , sailors , and pirates kill around 100,000of the peculiarly “ tasty ” animate being , find them to be a ready to hand food source as they could be dilute onto ships and last for a long time without food or weewee . world have also introduced alien species to their island , such as squealer , pigs , and cat-o'-nine-tails , which steal their valued ballock and compete with them for intellectual nourishment .

We have already lost some species of Galapagos tortoise and can not afford to lose any longer . In 2012,Lonesome George , the last known Pinta Island tortoise go . He was believed to have been about 102 year old . The Galapagos archipelago require its blue whale because they play an significant role in see to it and dispersing the islands ’ plants . As they eat plants , trample on them , and disperse seeds , giant tortoises areknown as a keystone speciesas they have a disproportionately large gist on their surrounding surround compared to other animal .

At the ripe old long time of 100 , Diego will at long last bring back to his home island in March , eight decades after he was pinched from it . He will know out the quietus of his daytime with his many congenator , munching on yummy plants in peace .

" He ’s contributed a with child percentage to the blood line that we are returning to Española , " Carrion told AFP . " There ’s a feeling of happiness to have the possibleness of returning that tortoise to his innate land . "