Tuatara Becomes Father at Age 111

Tuatara are indigenous New Zealand reptiles. They resemble lizards but but descend actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. They are also an endangered species, estimated to number 50,000 in thte wild.

Henry the tuatara took a long time to become interested in females, possibly because of a cancerous tumor on his genitals which was removed in 2002. Prior to that, he showed no interest in mating at all.

However, last July he mated with an 80-year-old female named Mildred, resulting in the 11 babies hatched on Monday.

I suppose one could call that the Tuatara version of "robbing the cradle."

Southland Museum and Art Gallery now has 72 tuataras; there have been 42 hatchings there in the last two years.