Origin
Its closest relatives are ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs, animals that lived in the Mesozoic before the great dinosaurs.
Now, this species, of the order Sphenodontia, is the only one to survive the changes produced by the meteorite impact responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
After 230 million years of hunting insects in the forest, the little animal is in trouble.
Biologists in New Zealand fear that soon there will be no more females to ensure the perpetuation of the species.
Tuatara is not a very active animal during the day and rightly so, considering that one specimen can reach 100 years, there is nothing to hurry.
Tuatara Food
At night, however, tuatara become active, being nocturnal hunters always looking for crickets and other insects.
When they get older, their teeth become dull, and animals begin to prefer softer food such as worms and slugs.
Features Tuatara
Like most reptiles, tuatara is ectothermic, which means that its body temperature depends on the outside, not being able to generate heat on its own.
However, the animal does not need a very hot environment to become active, the optimal body temperature being between 16 and 21 degrees Celsius, lower than that of other reptiles.
A tuatara can remain active even at 7 degrees Celsius, to hunt during the night, when other reptiles are at rest, but can not fight rats or dogs, which is why they no longer live on the mainland, migrating to an island where they are protected by law, but where it seems that they are not doing very well.
Although similar to a lizard, the tuatara has a unique anatomical conformation of the eyes and Jaws, which distinguishes it from other reptiles. It can also live in temperatures below 4 degrees Celsius, a rarity in the reptile class.
Tuatara Breeding
They are very sensitive to temperature when it comes to sex, because the sex of the chicken depends on the temperature of the egg.
At above 22 degrees Celsius it is very likely that the cub will emerge male, while at lower temperatures, the chances are higher that the cub will be a girl. This is how now, when the weather is hot, all the Cubs are males.
If the animals were able to migrate to higher and cooler altitudes they could cope with climate warming, but now they are stuck in a confined space. As a result of this phenomenon, specialists estimate that by 1085 there will be no female Tuatara.
In order to prevent extinction, New Zealand authorities recently transported 222 tuatara specimens to an area with cooler temperatures, where there is a chance that future Cubs will be females.
They also flaunt their dorsal crests and perform a dance around the female to conquer her. Because it does not have a penis, when the female allows it, the male performs a friction action for fertilization.
Tuatara specimens reach sexual maturity in 10-20 years, and when the mating period comes, the skin of the males darkens. A male named Henry, a new resident of the Southland Museum in Invercargill, New Zealand, First became a father at the age of 111. He and his partner, Mildred, 70, brought 11 cubs into the world.
