KEY POINTS:
For the first time in more than a decade, dozens of tuatara are roaming free on Little Barrier in the Hauraki Gulf.
Until now the slow-breeding reptiles have had to live in captivity to protect them from predatory rats on the island.
However, thanks to a successful rat eradication programme the tuatara are being released back into the wild.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter released the first of 60 tuatara at a special event yesterday.
"The release of tuatara is a major achievement in the ecological restoration of New Zealand's premier nature reserve," said Mr Carter, who wants to see the island revert to the type of place it was before the arrival of humans.
"Several of the species living on the island have already started to show signs of recovery since kiore were eradicated, and I eagerly await seeing tuatara flourish as well," Mr Carter said.
The Department of Conservation started a captive management breeding programme for tuatara on Little Barrier in the early 1990s.
Eight of the founding reptiles were taken into captivity and have since bred more than 100 tuatara. The released tuatara are between 8 and 12 years old.
Tuatara are found on about 35 islands. Seven are in Cook Strait and hold about 45,500 animals.
About 10,000 northern tuatara are spread over islands in the Hauraki Gulf, off Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty.
Tuatara
* Sometimes called a living fossil because it is the last representative on Earth of reptiles which appeared at the same time the dinosaurs were evolving, around 220 million years ago.
* Tuatara share burrows with burrowing seabirds such as petrels, prions and shearwaters, and feed on nutrient-rich bird droppings.
* Females lay soft-shelled eggs nine months after mating, and the eggs take 12-15 months to hatch. The sex of the baby depends on the soil temperature.
* It takes anything from 9 to 14 years for a juvenile to mature, and they reach their full size at 25-35 years old.
* The tuatara lives for between 60 and 100 years.
