Henry the Tuatara

[Miss B]

My parents and siblings live in Queenstown, New Zealand, and recently visited the Southland Museum where they took some pics of their famous resident, Henry the Tuatara.

Henry is believed to have been born towards the end of the 19th century, possibly in the 1880's. He was brought to Southland Museum in 1971 from Stephens Island. At 54cm long and 1.2kg, he is possibly the heaviest Tuatara in the world. Henry has shown no desire to breed and attacks other Tuataras; for this reason, he is housed in a seperate enclosure.

Mum took the first photo; it's not the best shot - the second photo of Henry is from a website. Such cool looking lizards

 

[Anthony88]

1880's?! Whoa thats 1 old lizard. At what age can they sexually reproduce?

 

[Miss B]

They reach sexual maturity at approximately 10-15 years of age. Males breed every year whereas females only breed once every two to five years. Average lifespan is around 80-100 years, although they can live quite a bit longer than that.

 

[Hoppa1874]

Isnt he gorgeous.. he looks almost noble in that second photo.. hehehe

 

[Retic]

Amazing looking animal. The incredible thing is they aren't actually a lizard.

 

[Miss B]

Wow, I didn't know that. What are they?

 

[Hickson]

They are Rhynchocephalians.

I think there's an article on them in the current issue of Reptiles Australia.



Hix