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gentle lemur

Tuatara

Female, Tropical House, Chester

Tuatara
    • Chlidonias
      the "pair" at Jersey may actually have inadvertantly been of the same sex rather than a true pair. They lived at the zoo for 14 years, but one was killed by a rat in early 1978 [1988?] and the other died a few months later from the injuries it received in the same rat attack.

      (information courtesy of Bongorob from a PM conversation we had regarding the Jersey tuatara a couple of years ago :))
    • Jordan-Jaguar97
      May i just ask have Chester Tuatara ever mated/bred succesfully?
    • bongorob
      Not yet bred at Chester.

      Gentle Lemur I had a shot just like that earlier this year, I spoilt it by somehow getting my finger in frot of the lens.
    • foz
      Why are tuatara so hard to breed in zoos? well at least Chester and Jersey?.

      Fantastic photo by the way.
    • gentle lemur
      Thank you - I check the tuataras every time I visit the Zoo, just in case one is posing properly.

      Tuataras are very different from other reptiles. They prefer low temperatures and so they do things very slowly. I'm not even sure if Chester's animals are mature yet.

      Alan
    • OrangePerson
      I might regret this but how do you know it's female?
    • zoogiraffe
      In answer to your question not in the current enclosure,in the old enclosure I believe the female showed signs of digging a nest 3 times but no eggs where ever found!!
    • Pygathrix
      I think infertile eggs were found on at least one occasion.
    • bongorob
      Chester Zoo News June 1974 records two clutches laid by the original female. The first was 9 eggs and the second 13 eggs. At the time of writing it was believed that the female was about to lay again.
    • zoogiraffe
      Well thats proved me wrong again,but then again i was still in my push chair in that year!
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  • Category:
    Chester Zoo
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    gentle lemur
    Date:
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