With its unique jaw, 'third eye' and dinosaur lineage, the tuatara was thought to be extinct on the New Zealand mainland
Rare sight: the baby tuatara at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand. Photograph: Tom Lynch/AP
Tuatara, which measure up to 80cm (32in) when fully grown, are the last descendants of a lizard-like reptile species that walked the Earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.
There are estimated to be about 50,000 of them living in the wild on 32 small offshore islands cleared of predators, but this is the first time a hatchling has been seen on the mainland in about 200 years.
