Tuatara - Restoration
(Sphenodon punctatus)

		Current Status Dec 2005: 70 tuatara were captured from Stephens Island and released in the Sanctuary.
Tuatara Photo by Tom Lynch

Tuatara arriving by helicopter

First Release

On 2 December 2005, 70 tuatara were transferred to the Sanctuary from Stephens Island (at the tip of D’Urville Island). The transfer was made possible because of a unique agreement between Ngati Koata (Nelson) and the Wellington Tenths Trust.

The transfer was jointly undertaken by the Sanctuary and Victoria University, and Kate McKenzie will be undertaking research into the release as part of a MSc degree, supported by the San Diego Zoo.

Another 130 tuatara from Stephens Island will be released in Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the future.

The Sanctuary Experiments

1. The tuatara have been released into specially constructed burrows. Some of the burrows have been aligned to exactly match the alignment of burrows on Stephens Island and the appropriate animals have been released into those burrows. Other burrows have been more randomly placed and tuatara placed into these were collected randomly. This experiment has been undertaken to determine if tuatara released with familiar neighbours will be inclined to disperse less than tuatara released with unfamiliar neighbours.
2. The tuatara have been released into two areas. Most of them have been released into the specially constructed Research Area and several are readily seen here from the Lake Road. The enclosure has been designed to stop tuatara climbing in or out as well as to exclude mice. The remainder have been released outside this area and may wander extensively before settling down. All the animals released outside the Research Area are coexisting with mice, while the animals inside are in a mouse-free environment. All the animals outside the Research Area and several inside are carrying transmitters so they can be monitored more easily. They will be located as often as possible and recaptured monthly to be weighed. The experiment will determine what effect mice will have on adult tuatara – will they be significant competitors? (i.e., will tuatara lose condition compared with their counterparts in a mouse-free area) or will they prey on them? (tuatara might be vulnerable when they are inactive during cold weather). If there are no significant impacts detected, then we will plan for the followup transfer and release of additional tuatara outside the Research Area. The release of more tuatara outside the research area may be dependent on first either removing mice, or researching what the effects of mice will be on tuatara breeding.
   
3. All the animals have been individually marked with a unique combination of beads adjacent to their neck crest. The larger animals may have 3 beads each side, the smallest 1 bead. The beads on each side are a mirror image of the other so you only need to see the beads on one side. To record the colour combination, list the bead colours in order from the outside edge to the inner-most one next to the spine.