Injured tuatara returns to Zealandia after escape attempt

Friday, 7 November 2014

He tried to escape, smashed his tail and was saved from near-certain death in the wild but after a long recovery Nubby the adventurous tuatara has been returned to Zealandia.

The ancient reptile, of indeterminate age, spent seven months on the mend at Wellington Zoo's hospital after dogwalker Lorna Borrett found him with a seriously injured tail and pelvic fractures outside the Wellington sanctuary's predator-proof fence back in February.

Zealandia has hailed Borrett a 'conservation heroine' but as someone who grew up in England, she wasn't sure what the injured creature actually was, and had to phone her partner to find out.

The couple called Zealandia, which quickly sent conservation manager Raewyn Empson to the scene. The sanctuary said the reptile was unlikely to have survived for long outside the fence, because of the abundance of predators.

Tuatara can 'drop' their tail when threatened and can generate another.

Nubby's wanderlust made him the 'Kupe of tuatara' and – because there were no puncture marks – it is thought the intrepid reptile had climbed the fence rather than being dropped over in the clutches of a predator, Empson said. 

Emergency surgery to amputate what was left of the badly damaged tail was then performed but zoo vet Lisa Argilla said Nubby was in a bad way when he arrived – the tail flesh had begun rotting and flies had laid maggots.

After a course of antibiotics and painkillers and months of healing his tail has started to grow back and his pelvic fractures have healed.

'His tail has grown about one centimetre but this is likely to be a very long process, as tuatara do everything slowly – they grow slowly, breed slowly and have very slow metabolisms,' Argilla said.

Nubby was happy relaxing in his burrow when he was released into an escape-proof fenced enclosure inside the sanctuary today.

'He's feisty and getting really bitey – he's definitely a wild tuatara, which is awesome.'

Tuatara were introduced to the sanctuary in 2005, becoming the first breeding population on the mainland in more than 200 years.