Tuatara not lacking UV: curator

Tuatara at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in Invercargill catch plenty of the sun's rays despite research that shows some of the reptiles kept in captivity could be harmed by inadequate lighting in their enclosures.

The ancient animals need to be exposed to ultraviolet light to synthesise vitamin D, which helps the bones absorb calcium and reduces the risk of broken bones and other painful conditions.

A just released study from Massey University researchers found four of 18 tuatara enclosures in New Zealand had ineffective UV light sources, while others were not providing enough light.

There was "a clear relationship" between light availability and the riskof developing bone problems, the study says.

The study does not name individual facilities, but all had been told to ensure tuatara had UV light equivalent "to what you see on a cloudy day in New Zealand".

Southland Museum and Art Gallery tuatara curator Lindsay Hazley said tuatara housed in the museum's enclosure had been affected by poor light until the installation five years ago of a new perspex roof that let 80 per cent of UVB rays pass through it.

The spinoffs had been immediate and since then the population in the enclosure had increased because of more successful breeding, he said. Studies of the Southland population surrounding its need for exposure to UV had probably provided some of the impetus for the Massey research, he said.

However, he applauded the findings, which would lead to recommendations about the types of materials that allowed more UV light to pass through and effective artificial lighting, he said.

A lot of the commercially available transparent building material filtered out UV, but there were alternatives, he said.

However, artificial conditions still struggled to come up to par with the real thing, Mr Hazley said.

"You can't beat mother nature."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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