New Zealand's Weta Workshop (the company who worked on special effects for Lord of the Rings) has made a robotic tuatara to go out into the wild with other tuataras. It's a way of learning how male tuatara establish dominance and the information will be used in breeding programs.

For those who are not familar with the tuatara, it's a lizard-like creature and is called a living dinosaur. There's a photo of one here. Although I know what they look like I, like most New Zealanders, have never seen one in the wild. They are closely monitored and most are confined to offshore islands where any known predators have been destroyed. I believe the Auckland Zoo help the Department of Conservation with a breeding program. All tuatara hatched at the zoo are returned to the wild.

The article is on the National Geographic page here.

Shelley