TUATARAS WAKEN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 221, 17 August 1935, Page 13

TUATARAS WAKEN

COLONY IN AUCKLAND.' AUCKLAND, Aug. 15. Auckland possesses a colonv of tuataras, those strange survivals from dim ages, and scientists are devoting more than usual attention at present to the habits of New Zealand’s quaintest creatures. The reason is that the tuataras are awakening. The mere fact of rousing from slumber would seem to be an o**linary and homely affair, hut the tuataraf have been sleeping since April. Now, they are preparing for the activities of moving and eating, which will be their lot until next April. There are three tuataras at the Auckland Zoo, and they are beginning to open their eyes on a world artificially resembling their habitat on a few rocky islands off the mainland. Then there is the remaining member of the colony, a tuntara kept under observation by experis on the staff of the War Memorial Aluseum.

Snails appeal irresistibly to tautnras. Alaintaining a supply is a simple matter, however, for a tuatara considers he has dined handsomely if he is given one snail a day. The specimen, receiving the attention of the museum experts should be accustomed to observation by now, for his habits have been watched for 13 years. This would seem to be a disturbingly long absence from his natural haunts, but a tuatara lias ample time for reflection. It is estimated that a tuatara who follows without serious interference his natural preferences of eating sparingly and sleeping from April until the approach ol spring, can live for 300 years.