Tuatara are a significant attraction for vistors to the Southland Museum & Art Gallery and have become iconic animals for Invercargill. Although it has become closely associated with Southland, the tuatara is now extinct on New Zealand's North and South Islands and survives only on 35 islands in Cook Strait and off the North Island's east coast.

There are currently over 80 animals in the Southland Museum & Art Gallery Tuatara enclosure and this successful breeding programme has become a key contributor to the survival of New Zealand's unique 'living fossil'.