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Tuatara Recovery at Wellington Zoo
We have worked closely with various agencies over the years, endeavouring to increase the numbers of the different species of tuatara in New Zealand.
Since 1977 we have displayed a pair of Cook Strait tuatara, one male (affectionately known as Spike) and one female (Spikette), for advocacy purposes, in our new nocturnal enclosure. However, there has been much 'behind the scenes' work, including:
- raising some of 1987 Cook Strait juveniles intended for island release
- temporarily holding a group of Stanley Island (part of the Mercury Island group off the Coromandel Peninsula) tuatara thought unlikely to breed. This was part of a Department of Conservation programme. DOC was doing a predator eradication exercise on the islands and took advantage of the opportunity to bring the widely dispersed population into captivity temporarily. This not only protected the animals from the eradication measures but also allowed them to 'get to know each other' and possibly stimulate breeding. The tuatara held in Wellington were transferred to Auckland Zoo in 1999; one female has since produced young.
- breeding Cook Strait tuatara hatchlings in an outdoor enclosure.
- currently holding a group of adult Cook Strait tuatara for research involving transmitters, marking, ultrasonic scanning, hormonal surveys, metabolism measurement and blood sampling.
This work has been co-ordinated by one of our registrar, Barbara Blanchard.
Her responsibilities include:
- creating and maintaining a database of weights and measurements, and recording all husbandry notes on all captive tuatara.
- recording and maintaining all relevant data for three studbooks (Cook Strait, Brothers and northern tuatara) to international standards
- facilitating tuatara transfers worldwide (England, America, Australia) and within New Zealand.
- acting as the link between universities, zoos and DOC
- being a representative on the recovery group for the Society for Research on New Zealand Reptiles and Amphibians.
Barbara has written a tuatara captive management plan and husbandry manual, including a quarantine protocol for release to the wild (published June 2002).
In 1995 she arranged for the simultaneous bleeding of approximately 20 adult tuatara housed in different institutions around New Zealand. The blood was transferred within 24 hours to a Ministry of Agriculture laboratory. The aim of the research was to provide normal, standardised haematology and biochemistry blood parameters.
The future for tuatara
Wellington Zoo is part of Project Head Start. In conjuction with Victoria University, Brothers Island juveniles will be 'grown' until they about 5 years old or have a 120mm snout-vent length. They will then be released, most likely on to Long Island in the Marlborough Sounds, to form the second new wild population of the endangered Brothers Island / Gunther's tuatara.
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