Reported by The Earth Times from Wellington New Zealand, a Tuatara reptile has become a first time father at the age of 111. The reptile named Henry Who lives in Invercargill at the Southland Museum was apparantly a slow developer and only discovered sex last March when he had a romp with the 70 year old female Tuatara called Mildred.
Tuatara in front of its burrow at the Karori Bird Sanctuary. Image by digitaltrails
Mildred laid twelve eggs last August 2008 which hatched over the weekend of January 24th – 25th 2009 and the babies are doing well according to Lindsay Hazley the museum curator.
Tuatara are native to New Zealand and resembles a lizard although they are actually members of the order Sphenodontia. Only two members of this order, which flourished two million years ago, survive. Tuatara are studied to further understand the evolution of snakes and lizards and also to find out more about the habits and appearance of early crocodiles and birds as these have a common ancestor with the Tuatara.
Tuatara have a spiny crest which is more pronounced in the males and runs along the back. Their colour is a greeny brown and they are up to thirty two inches long. They also have a parietal eye (often called a third eye) the function of which is still a subject for study.
They are an endangered species and are threatened by the Polynesian Rat which was introduced to New Zealand and by loss of habitat. There are estimated to be about 50,00 left.
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