Southern tuatara eggs may be key

HARDY LOT: Anne Besson admires one of 15 tuatarathat survived last year in open-air enclosures their survival means some of them might return to a wild enclosure in two years.

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Tuatara eggs taken from Southland might be the answer to the survival of their species in the wild if research by a Otago University student is successful.

PhD student Anne Besson placed 15 tuatara into small enclosures at Orokonui Ecosanctuary, just north of Dunedin, in March to find out if they could survive in low southern temperatures.

Four of the 15 tuatara hatched from eggs taken from the Southland museum enclosure in 2003, while the rest came from islands near Cook Strait.

After a successful winter, Ms Besson and her colleagues are now looking to the possibility of releasing the more mature of the 15 tuatara into the wider 300ha enclosure at Orokonui in two years.

Southland museum tuatara man Lindsay Hazley said it was an exciting prospect and could potentially ensure the survival and population growth of tuatara in the wild if successful.

Ms Besson's supervisor, associate professor Alison Cree, said the introduction of pests such as rats had limited tuatara habitats. Orokonui's pest-free environment could provide new and safe habitats for tuatara to live in if existing habitats became uninhabitable, she said. Dr Cree predicted possible warmer weather, a rising sea level and droughts could mean tuatara living on small low-lying islands might not be able to stay there much longer, so it was hoped the research would solve that problem.

The tuatara will be released into the wild sanctuary subject to approval of all parties involved.

- © Fairfax NZ News