Tuatara put off their stride by snap-happy Brit tourist

JILL McKEE

BREED APART: Breed apart: Southland Museum tuatarium curator Lindsay Hazley weighs a guntheri female carrying eggs. She is one of a rare breed. It is believed only 300 exist.

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A tourist taking photos might have prevented the rare guntheri tuatara species from breeding at the Southland Museum.

Museum tuatara curator Lindsay Hazley said he was disappointed eggs laid by one of the seven rare guntheri tuatara at the museum had decomposed within a couple of weeks.

Mr Hazley, who has been trying to breed the rare guntheri species for about five years at the museum, said an English tourist's snapshots had spooked the female during the mating process and she had run away prematurely.

"She thought he had done the job and never came back," Mr Hazley said.

"I may put a curtain on the outside window to give them a wee bit more privacy next time."

The guntheri species, which is more than 200 million years old, had never been successfully bred in captivity, he said.

Attempts to breed them at the museum would continue.

Apart from the seven guntheri tuatara at the museum, where they had lived their entire 19 years, there were only about 400 others, most living on Brothers Island in Cook Strait, he said.

The other breed of tuatara was the common sphenodon punctatus, of which world-famous 111-year-old Henry is a member.

Henry became a first-time father last week. His 11 babies were doing well, Mr Hazley said.

The babies are on display at the museum and edited footage of their hatchings can be seen by going to www.southlandmuseum.com, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News