Henry the tuatara is a dad at 111

[depakid]

Tuatara is a Maori word meaning "peaks on the back."

A rare New Zealand reptile has become a father, possibly for the first time, at the age of 111. The keepers of Henry, a tuatara, had thought he was past his prime - especially after showing no interest in females during 40 years in captivity. But he mated with 80-year-old Mildred last July and 11 of the eggs she produced have now hatched.

Henry's keepers have put his newfound vigour down to a recent operation to remove a tumour from his bottom.

'Love story'

Henry arrived at Southland Museum in the South Island city of Invercargill in 1970 and, his keepers say, soon became overweight and idle. He was known for his foul temper and had a tendency to attack other tuatara - forcing the museum to keep him in solitary confinement for many years. But since his operation, Museum tuatara curator Lindsay Hazley said he had had a "major personality transplant".

More with video of the brood! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7850975.stm

One of the mysteries of the tuatara is its ‘third eye’ or pineal or parietal eye located in the middle of the forehead. Although it has a small lens and retina, it is covered with opaque scales and scientists believe it may be used as a light sensor rather than for actually forming images.

The tuataras, Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri, are the only surviving members of the order Sphenodontida, a lineage that stretches back at least 225 million years to the Mesozoic Age - the beginning of the ‘Age of the Reptiles’. All other members of the order (and family) shared the earth with dinosaurs and are known only from fossils.

[Staph]

1. Let's hear it for Mildred!

A new mother at 80! Diapers and 2:00 AM feedings . . . undectuplets in the midst of the terrible twos . . . undectuplets going through puberty . . . she has my deepest sympathy.

[NNadir]

2. He was so young. He had so much to live for. If only he had exercised more...

[Sinistrous]

3. You read it that way too?

BTW, it's DAD not DEAD.

[jpak]

4. I visited that museum a few years back

Tuataras are real survivors.

Cigars for Henry...

[NNadir]

5. Why am I not surprised to hear you recommend inhaling biomass carcinogens?

Oh yeah, I remember why, don't I?

You can't be an anti-nuke if you give a rat's ass about such carcinogens.

You think biomass burning is a kind of yuppie joke.

Guess what. It ain't:

www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/countryprofilesebd.xls

You. Couldn't. Care. Less.

[jpak]

6. For the record - I DO give a flying fuck about the rat's ass

:rofl:

[Nihil]

7. Whilst staying out of your usual head-to-head ...

... I have to admit that your phrasing made me go :wtf: ...
"Tuataras are real survivors so let's give the little bugger lung cancer
and see how he copes with that!"

:P