Dom Post: Tuatara babies keep hatchers guessing

Kiran Chug writes in the Dominion Post about 8 tuatara eggs, the first found at Wellington Zoo in over 20 years, which are on the verge of hatching.

Tuatara are extremely difficult to breed, and the eggs are currently being kept in an incubator to give them the best chance of hatching safely.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

“The zoo’s tuatara species co-ordinator, Barbara Blanchard, said the eggs came from first-time father Tuatahi and mother Matamuri, who were introduced to each other at Christmas time.

“As breeding pairs usually took five years to conceive, their success in producing eggs was “remarkable”.

“In the wild, tuatara eggs are laid between October and January and can take a year to hatch. “We’ve got no idea when they were laid so we have no idea when they will hatch.”

“But it could happen at any time. Eggs kept in incubation containers often hatched in a shorter time than those in the wild, Ms Keall said.”