A captive reptile in New Zealand has unexpectedly become a proud father at the ripe old age of 111 after receiving treatment for a cancer that made him hostile toward prospective mates, or it was thought to be so.
The centenarian tuatara, named Henry VIII, was also thought well past the mating game until he was caught getting it on with a female named Mildred last March - a consummation that resulted in 11 babies being hatched this week.
Tuatara are indigenous New Zealand creatures that resemble lizards but descend from a distinct lineage of reptiles that walked the earth with the dinosaurs from 11 to 225 million years ago, zoologists estimate.
Before Henry, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier had had the record for oldest reptile to have an offspring.
