Congratulations to Henry - a father at last!

Alright, our scaly friend here isn't particularly cute, or spectacular but he is unusual. He's a tuatara, the last remaining descendent of a species which walked with dinosaurs, apparently.

Five years ago, I travelled more than 12,000 miles to see a tuatara, ending up at the Southland Museum in Invercargill, New Zealand. Their most famous exhibit was, and remains, Henry, an elderly (although not in tuatara terms) fellow.

In the past, he hadn't been of much use to the museum's tuatara breeding programme. Indeed, he'd bitten the tail off of Mildred, one of their female tuatara when introduced to her. However, having recently undergone surgery, he has experienced a bit of a renaissance, and finally managed to father eleven babies in January. Not bad for a 111-year old...