But since having surgery for a tumour on his behind, Henry the tuatara has got his mojo back, it seems. At the grand old age of 111, he is about to become a father, he and Mildred having produced a batch of 12 eggs in mid-July. The reptilian couple - of a indigenous New Zealand species regarded as one of the last living descendants of the dinosaurs - can expect to meet their offspring when they hatch in about six months' time.
The pair of tuatara - descended from a lizard-like species that walked the earth 200 million years ago - have for the past 38 years been living at the Southland Museum on New Zealand's South Island. With the species in danger of extinction, the museum had set up the first dedicated breeding programme, and carers attempted to mate the pair on numerous occasions with no success. After the tail incidents, all hope of procreation had seemed lost. Henry - pictured below - became fat and lazy, his youthful vigour evaporating.
But after what may have been his first sexual act, museum staff say, Henry has transformed into a true ladies man. The 2.6 pound, 23 inch-long representative of his kind is now enjoying the company of three females in his enclosure, with the next breeding season due in eight months.
“He’s definitely up for it, he’s become a real Jack the Lad since he lost his virginity,” museum curator Lindsay Hazley said.
Tuatara are found only in New Zealand and are the only existing members of the Order Sphenodontia, which was represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs some 200 million years ago.
All species apart from the tuatara declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago.
The tuatara has been classified as an endangered species since 1895. Threatened by habitat loss and the introduced Polynesian Rat, they were extinct on the mainland, with the remaining populations confined to 32 offshore islands, until the first mainland release into the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in 2005. They are currently subject to a ten-year recovery plan run by the New Zealand government.""
Who said I'm old at 62 !!
