Tuataras' fleeting visit
Twenty three inquisitive young tuatara returned to Hauturu o Toi/Little Barrier Island this week after stopping over in Warkworth a few days.
Twenty three inquisitive young tuatara returned to Hauturu o Toi/Little Barrier Island this week after stopping over in Warkworth a few days.
Eggs are collected on the island and sent to Victoria University in Wellington to be incubated, to give them the best possible chance of survival.
Predators like feral cats, which had lived on the island for over 100 years, and kiore (Pacific rats) have been eradicated.
But by 1990 no tuatara had been spotted there for 10 years. Department of Conservation and Victoria University began searching.
"Amazingly we found four tuatara in a week on that first trip," Sue Keall said.
Keall was then a technician in the university's school of biological sciences.
"Everyone was surprised, and a disused aviary had to be adapted to house them. The longer term view was that they would remain in captivity on the island for their own safety, pending an agreement to eradicate kiore from the island."
A second trip found another four and a purpose built ‘tuatarium' enclosure housed the four males and four females.
"Their resulting eggs were sent to Victoria University for inclubation," DOC senior biodiversity ranger at Warkworth Thelma Wilson said.
Eggs have been going there since, with the resulting youngsters returned to the island.
Since the rats were eradicated in 2006, tuatara can once more be found in the wild.
Returning young tuatara are held briefly in special cabinets on the island. The original ones were falling into disrepair, so carpenter Keith Witheford of Snells Beach, a volunteer at DOC's Mahurangi/Warkworth area office, made new ones from untreated wood to avoid risks to the reptiles from any chemicals.
Being able to help has its rewards, Witheford said. Witheford gives a few hours of his time and skills to the Warkworth office each week.
That has even seen him head off to the Kermadec Islands to replace a shed destroyed in high winds.
- Delwyn Dickey, Rodney Times