In 1869, William Tegetmeier, naturalist, prolific writer on pigeons, and experimenter with his friend Charles Darwin on how beehive cells became hexagonal, reported in the Daily Southern Cross on New Zealand’s Tuatara, known then as a ‘Tuatera’ or Navara lizard.
Naturalist Ernst Dieffenbach, employed by the New Zealand Company, to assess sites suitable for settlement, arrived in Wellington on the Tory in May 1839. During his travels around the country, he learned about a large and interesting lizard which had once been common in the islands around New Zealand. It could grow to over two feet in length and lived in holes, often in sandhills, near the shore, but had become scarce due to being eaten for food and killed by pigs. Unable to find a ‘Tuatera,’ Dieffenbach offered a reward. After his year-long contract finished and within days of departing, he obtained a specimen, caught on the small, rocky islet of Karewa. (The island’s conical peak can be seen from Tauranga, on the outside of Matakana Island). Dieffenbach must have taken the ‘Tuatera’ to Britain, for he kept it alive in captivity for some time, then presented it to the British Museum. It is unclear whether it died with him, or in the museum, where it was preserved.
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Albert Gunther by Lucy Gee (Mrs H. Coxeter), watercolour, 1900
NPG 4965 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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German-born Albert Günther, keeper of the Zoological Department at the Museum, studied the ‘Tuatera’s anatomy. (This was probably not Dieffenbach’s specimen, as today, tuatara from the North Brothers Island in Cook Strait, bear Günther’s name – Sphenodon guntheri, whereas those from Karewa Island are now Sphenodon punctatus. It has been debated as to whether these are two distinct species, or a variant of the same).
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Tuataras, adult and juveline, Karewa Island, c1920-1930s
Black-and-white positive lantern slide, taken by Bernard Sladden
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Bernard Sladden Collection, Ref. bs-188 |
Günther noted peculiar dentition, as the teeth appeared as prominences of the jawbone; singular fishlike vertebrae and abdominal ribs, as well as those attached to the spine, which he believed would assist with the ventral plate for climbing from holes and through sandhills, as its limbs were short, with feeble claws. The highly developed bony skull and birdlike ribs indicated very low and very high vertebrate organisation, which Günther considered significant, as New Zealand had scanty development of reptilian life. The scientific name Hatteria punctata and order Rhynchocephalia was given, forming a distinct group between lizards and crocodiles.
At the same time as Tegetmeier’s report, the Illustrated London News reported the arrival of a young live ‘Tuatera’ at Regent’s Park Zoological Gardens; the first in any zoo and believed not previously seen in Europe. It was thought extremely rare; little was known about the species, which seemed to belong to the Agama family of lizards (a genus of small to moderate-sized, long-tailed insectivorous old-world lizards found in Africa). ‘The ‘Tuatera’s remarkable anatomical peculiarities were to be made known in a paper at the next Zoological Society’s scientific meeting. (Günther’s landmark paper was the first to establish the Tuatara was not a lizard).
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Karewa Island, c1920-1930s
Hand-coloured black-and-white positive lantern slide, taken by Bernard Sladden
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Bernard Sladden Collection, Ref. bs-166 |
Meanwhile, two living specimens of Hatteria punctata collected from Karewa Island, had been donated to the Auckland Institute by H T Clarke, presumed to be Henry Tacey Clarke (1825-1902) son of missionary George Clarke. He served in the military, spoke fluent Maori, was a registered interpreter, a Native Land Court Judge, and Commissioner of Tauranga Land. Brett Payne mentions him in his March 2019 Tauranga Historical Society blog.
An anonymous writer, who recorded ‘A North Island Trip’ in the Cromwell Argus in 1880, mentioned that in 1873 he had visited Karewa Island, ‘home of the giant lizard,’ to obtain specimens of the species.
In May 1876, the Evening Post recorded considerable public interest from the latest addition to the Colonial Museum in Wellington; thirteen living tuataras, brought by Mr. Louis B. Wilson from the Brothers Islands. Some were almost two feet in length, described as ‘having an exceedingly sinister aspect, strongly resembling crocodiles with spiky backs and extensive smiles. However, they are quite harmless and very gentle, the thirteen living peacefully together; quite a happy family amongst their artificial rockwork, grazing pastorally on the worms, with which they are liberally supplied.’ People were startled by their sudden movement after seeing them completely motionless.
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Tuatara and Toanui (Flesh-footed shearwater), Karewa Island, c1920-1930s
Black-and-white positive lantern slide, taken by Bernard Sladden
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Bernard Sladden Collection, Ref. bs-187 |
Keeping live tuataras at the museum in Wellington was a tradition kept for many years. When I was researching at Te Papa Archives for my book ‘A Path Through the Trees’ on Mary Sutherland, I learned that Augustus Hamilton (Museum Director 1903-1913) wrote on his desk calendar when ‘the old lizard died,’ and Mary Sutherland was present in May 1937 when Roger Walpole, assistant at the museum, somehow cracked his ribs while feeling the tuatara.
Today, Southland Museum has a purpose-built tuatarium, which started in 1961, with tuataras (Sphenodon guntheri) from the Northern Brother Island. It runs a successful breeding programme and when numbers reached one hundred and five, a decision was made to release some on islands in the Marlborough Sounds.
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Photographing a tuatara with a Popular Pressman half-plate camera, c1920-1930s
Black-and-white positive lantern slide, taken by Bernard Sladden
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Bernard Sladden Collection, Ref. bs-733 |
This article would not be complete without mentioning Bernard Sladden. In 1932, he was appointed Honorary Inspector under the 1908 Scenery Preservation Act, with responsibility for Bay of Plenty offshore Islands. His wonderful photographs of tuatara would probably have been taken on Karewa Island.
Researching this story, led me to wonder why tuataras were sent to museums. The answer turned out to be simple. New Zealand’s first zoo was established in 1906 by Wellington City Council near Newtown Park. Auckland Zoo began in 1922 at Western Springs, with a lion, a hyena, a panther and monkeys, purchased from a private zoo in Onehunga, which was closed.
References
William Bernharrdt Tegetmeier, Wikipedia
Dieffenbach, Johan Karl Ernst (1811-1855) on JSTOR
Albert Günther, Wikipedia
Papers Past
Daily Southern Cross, 4 August 1868, 13 February 1869
Otago Witness, 13 February 1869
Evening Post, 12 May 1876
Cromwell Argus, 19 October 1880
Press, 16 February 1869
High Trees and the Te Papa Peninsula 1860-1910, by Brett Payne. March 2019 Tauranga Historical Society Blogspot
Bernard Sladden – The Man and the Books, by Max Avery, Historical Review, Vol.68, No 1, p29 Sphenodon punctatus, Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
