science

Henry (tuatara)

Henry (tuatara) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Henry (tuatara) rather than just read about it. In short: Henry (born c. 1890s/1910s) is a tuatara who resides in Queens Park, in Invercargill, New Zealand. He was hatched on Stephens Island, which is north of the South Island, and was moved to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in 1970.

Key takeaways

Henry (tuatara) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Henry (tuatara) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Henry (tuatara) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Henry (born c. 1890s/1910s) is a tuatara who resides in Queens Park, in Invercargill, New Zealand. He was hatched on Stephens Island, which is north of the South Island, and was moved to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in 1970. He had a cancerous tumour removed from him in 2008 and became a father for the first time in 2009, which received world-wide media attention. In 2024, amidst the demolition and rebuilding of the Southland Museum, Henry was moved to a new habitat with other tuataras within Queens Park.

Biography Henry was hatched some time between the 1890s and the 1910s on Stephens Island, off the north coast of the South Island, and is believed to be the oldest tuatara alive today. Henry arrived at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in 1970. He was named after Henry VIII and, according to tuatara keeper Lindsay Hazley, "The plan was for Henry to have lots of wives." The staff tried to get him to breed with a female named Mildred in the 1980s but he bit her tail off. He fought with other tuatara, including a male named Albert. Because he was aggressive, he was kept alone. A cancerous tumour was removed from Henry's genital region in 2008, which caused Henry's libido to come back. In 2009, Henry became a father for the first time, at the age of about 111. This surprised experts, who believed that it was too late for Henry to have offspring. The female, named Mildred, who Henry had previously spurned in the 1980s, was believed to be in her seventies. She laid 12 eggs, of which 11 hatched after about 223 days. This gathered worldwide media attention. In 2013, staff became concerned that Henry had become infertile. It was not known if it was because of his age, his lifestyle, or the cancer which had been removed about five years prior. In 2009, the film Love in Cold Blood was made, which featured the romance of Henry and Mildred. It won the Best New Zealand Film and Best New Zealand Emerging Talent awards at the 2010 Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival. In 2015, Prince Harry, who was christened as Henry, met the tuatara at Invercargill Airport as part of a tour of the country. In 2019, the Southland Museum and Art Gallery announced that they would move most of their tuatara to the Marlborough Sounds, but keep Henry, Mildred and a few other tuatara. In June 2024, Henry and 16 other tuatara were moved to a new habitat in Queens Park while the Southlands Museum is being demolished and rebuilt, after being kept out of public for a year. The opening ceremony saw over 2,000 attendees, and was advertised as Henry's housewarming. It was reported in 2024 that Henry "holds the world record for living in captivity at more than 46 years."

References

External links Love in Cold Blood, a short film about Henry

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Henry (tuatara)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Henry (tuatara) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Henry (tuatara) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Henry (tuatara) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Henry (tuatara)

In research: Henry (tuatara) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Henry (tuatara) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Henry (tuatara) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Individual animals in New Zealand, Individual reptiles, Invercargill, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Henry (tuatara) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Henry (tuatara) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Henry (tuatara) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Henry (tuatara) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Henry (tuatara) in simple terms?

Why does Henry (tuatara) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Henry (tuatara)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Henry (tuatara).