Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Friday March 17 2017, @06:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-tortoise-with-a-harem dept.

Diego has fathered hundreds of progeny — 350 by conservative counts, some 800 by more imaginative estimates. Whatever the figure, it is welcome news for his species, Chelonoidis hoodensis, which was stumbling toward extinction in the 1970s. Barely more than a dozen of his kin were left then, most of them female.

[...] "He'll keep reproducing until death," said Freddy Villalva, who watches over Diego and many of his descendants at a breeding center at this research facility, situated on a rocky volcanic shoreline. The tortoises typically live more than 100 years.

The tales of Diego and George demonstrate just how much the Galápagos — a province of Ecuador — have served as the world's laboratory of evolution. So often here, the fate of an entire species, evolved over millions of years, can hinge on whether just one or two individual animals survive from one day to the next.

Diego, and his offspring, are part of one of the most high-profile efforts to keep Galápagos tortoise populations thriving. The tortoise, estimated to be perhaps a century old, is one of the main drivers of a remarkable recovery of the hoodensis species — now more than 1,000 strong on their native island of Española, one of the dozen Galápagos islands.

-- submitted from IRC


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 1) by nobu_the_bard on Friday March 17 2017, @06:43PM (5 children)

    by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Friday March 17 2017, @06:43PM (#480554)

    Living the dream, Diego.

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Friday March 17 2017, @06:53PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday March 17 2017, @06:53PM (#480560)

      For Diego, it literally is lady turtles all the way down.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Friday March 17 2017, @10:05PM (3 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday March 17 2017, @10:05PM (#480659) Journal

      A human male managed to have 867 direct descendents in less than 1 century [wikipedia.org] - verifiable.

      Another one was so prolific that DNA evidence suggest he is the ancestor of 8% of asian males and 0.5% of worlds' population [wikipedia.org]

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @02:44AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @02:44AM (#480746)

        Are we celebrating this achievement or pointing out what is possibly the worst rapist in history?

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday March 18 2017, @05:56AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 18 2017, @05:56AM (#480774) Journal

          Are we celebrating this achievement or pointing out what is possibly the worst rapist in history?

          Just stating some facts about remarkable feats related to reproduction. No judgement, ethical or moral implied in my comment.

          By all means, feel free to state your opinion, as I stated none.

          Mind you, may not be a dichotomy as your post seems to suggest. Here's another angle [livescience.com]:

          The Mongol invasion of Asia in the 1200s took enough carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to offset a year's worth of the world's gasoline demand today, according to a new study.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @06:30AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @06:30AM (#480779)

          Are we celebrating this achievement or pointing out what is possibly the worst rapist in history?

          Or perhaps pointing out he was the first global equal opportunity employer, treating everyone the same no matter the race or religion.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @06:47PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @06:47PM (#480556)

    When you are a star turtle, all you have to do is grab them by the under-shell.

    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday March 17 2017, @10:53PM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday March 17 2017, @10:53PM (#480682) Homepage

      " Diego has fathered hundreds of progeny... "

      Of course it was a Latino -- fathering hundreds of progeny without regard to any kind of child support. Harrumph!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @07:22PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @07:22PM (#480570)

    This is about as believable as porcupines having sex. How...?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @07:24PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @07:24PM (#480572)

      also: stegosaurus, and anything with a thick or inflexible tail

    • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday March 17 2017, @07:56PM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Friday March 17 2017, @07:56PM (#480587)

      I guess slow and steady really does win the race.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
    • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday March 17 2017, @08:52PM (4 children)

      by butthurt (6141) on Friday March 17 2017, @08:52PM (#480619) Journal

      Among giant tortoises,

      Mating is a noisy process, with the males bellowing like a bull, and chasing after the females. The male’s tail guides his penis into position, and copulation lasts for 10-15 minutes.

      -- https://web.archive.org/web/20110418020530/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/biodiversity/endangered-species/geochelone-gigantea/biology/index.html [archive.org]

      I found a video that depicts the end of the process (maybe in a different species):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8_077J5Rvw [youtube.com]

      and one showing the preliminaries (N.B. both have audio):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9B0f_NIXYQ [youtube.com]

      Good luck!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @10:44PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 17 2017, @10:44PM (#480672)

        Hawt.

      • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday March 17 2017, @10:57PM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday March 17 2017, @10:57PM (#480686) Homepage

        Jesus, the noises the male makes in the second link vid are fucking hilarious, and disturbingly human-like. And the part of the video that shows the female's face is pretty funny too because she looks like she's not havin' it.

        And 'dem shells knocking.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @01:36AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @01:36AM (#480733)

        Is it still called 'doggy style' when it's tortoises/turtles?

        I'm almost afraid to do a porn search for 'tortoise style', 'turtle style, or even 'galloping galápagos'.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @07:53PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @07:53PM (#480903)

        Not gonna dispute your findings, given your nickname.

(1)