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Tuatara
Tuataras are reptiles from New Zealand. They resemble lizards, but are actually in a species of their own. They grow to be about 30" long, and they have a spiny ridge down their back.
112 Questions
How many years has tuataras been around?
Tuatara (a New Zealand lizard) generally live to about 60 years old, though they can live to 100. In captivity a tuatara might live for 200 years according to experts.
To get the average age, add up all the ages of all tuataras and then divide by the number of animals. The answer is probably about 40 years old.
Why isn't the tuatara classified as a lizard?
The Tutara belongs to a group of reptiles called lepidosaurs along with lizards and snakes. Dinosaurs are on a different evolutionary branch called archosaurs, which they share with crocodiles. Research in the past thirty years or so has shown that dinosaurs actually had more in common with birds, their direct descendants, than with modern reptiles.
What is the average weight of a tuatara?
The tuatara is a small to medium sized lizard-like reptile, thou not actually a lizard, An adult tuatara grows up to about 24 cm in length. Note that this is quite different from the lengths quoted on some websites such as the San Diego Zoo website, which gives inaccurate information.
No. Iguanas and tuatara are quite different species. Whilst both iguanas and tuatara are reptiles, the iguana is a type of lizard, whereas the tuatara is not classified as a lizard.
The average lifespan is about 60 years, but they can live to be over 100 years old.
No. The tuatara, a lizard-like reptile endemic to New Zealand, does not have the ability to produce any venom.
No. Tuataras are in the lepidosaur branch of reptiles, which they share with lizards and snakes. Dinosaurs are on the archosaur branch, which they share with crocodilians. Birds are the only living dinosaurs today.
Diet: Tuataras are carnivores (meat eaters). They eat insects (like the weta (a cricket), moths and beetles), reptiles (like lizards), worms, snails, eggs, baby birds and even other Tuataras. Predators: Tuataras are eaten by rodents, pigs, and wild cats.
Generally through its nostrils. Tuataras have perfectly normal lungs.
What part of NZ does tuatara live in?
Tuatara are only found in their native habitat on nearshore islands of New Zealand. They are also kept in protective captivity on the mainland.
For a map of where tuatara are found, see the related link.
The main reason why tuatara are endangered is the threat caused by introduced predators. Once found throughout the mainland, the tuatara is now found in the wild only on offshore islands. The kiore (Polynesian rat) is responsible for the decreasing tuatara population, as are the two species of rats introduced by Europeans, while cats, dogs, stoats and ferrets have also contributed to the tuatara's decline.
On the mainland, deforestation has resulted in habitat loss, which has meant less food and safe shelter for the tuatara.
The tuatara's own breeding cycle and slow growth rate makes this reptile one of its own worst enemies. Tuatara only breed every second year and they are long-lived, meant they do not begin reproducing until they are 15-18 years old. They cannot reproduce quickly enough to compensate for their numbers being reduced by predators.
Probably through isolation, and adaptation to an unusually cool environment. No one can be entirely certain, of course, this question has no factual answer...we can only give opinions.
The Tuatara are an endemic species of lizard found exclusively in New Zealand. Their body colouration is greenish-brown and grey. They grow to an adult length of around 31 inches (80 cm) from head to tail-tip, and can weigh up to 3lbs (1.3 kg).
See the related link to Wikipedia's excellent article on the species.
What are the differences between tuatara and lizards?
Absolutely not it is a "Sphenodantia" a living fossel
The tuatara is only found in New Zealand and is in danger of becoming extinct!
It is a reptile but not a lizard.
It is the last remaining member of the ancient group of reptiles, Sphenodontia.
Tuatara is a Maori word meaning "peaks on the back". It is easy to see why.
The tuatara is famous because it is a very ancient - it is the only survivor of a large group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs. It hasn't changed its form much in over 225 million years! The relatives of tuatara died out about 60 million years ago which is why the tuatara is sometimes called a 'living fossil' - cool.
You might have thought tuatara are lizards…but they're not.
- The arrangement of their teeth is very special. The single row of teeth in the lower jaw fits between two rows of teeth in the upper jaw. This helps tuatara tear apart hard insects such as weta, and chew the heads off small seabirds - yuck!
- Tuatara mate differently fromlizards. The male tuatara does not have a penis; he mounts the female and passes sperm straight from his cloaca to hers (the cloaca is the hole that sperm enters the female through).
- They have a gland beneath the skin on the head, which contains a simple 'third eye'.
- Lizards have visible ear openings but tuatara do not.
But like lizards, if they lose their tails they are able to regrow them - excellent!
What's this about a 'third eye' ??
The 'third eye' is visible under young tuatara's skin and becomes covered with scales after four to six months. The 'third eye' soaks up UV (ultra violet) rays in the first few months of the tuatara's life. The young tuatara get Vitamin D from the UV rays, which helps them grow into healthy adult tuatara.
Tuatara History…
People used to think that the tuatara was a lizard. But in 1867, Dr Albert Gunther, the curator at the British Museum in London examined a bottled tuatara specimen and said 'It's not a lizard!' Gunther linked it to the group of reptiles called Rhynchocephalia, thought to be long extinct land-based reptiles (Rhynchocephalia is now known as Sphenodontia).
In 1989 Dr Charles Daugherty, a professor at Victoria University in Wellington, discovered that there were two species of tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri.
Know your tuatara
The most common species is known simply as tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus, Cook Strait tuatara). There are around 50,000 of them living on Stephen's Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Some more live on the Trios Group of Islands also in the Marlborough Sounds.
The only named sub-species of Sphenodon punctatus is Sphenodon punctatus punctatus, Northern tuatara. There is a small population living on Little Barrier Island, the rest are spread over 24 islands in the Hauraki Gulf, off Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty.
There are only about 400 adults of the second species Sphenodon guntheri, Brother's Island tuatara (known as Gunther's or Brothers tuatara). They are slightly smaller than the other tuatara and live in a patch of scrub on the top of tiny North Brother Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Although they are fairly safe at present, they are always at risk from rats coming onto the island, from fires and from poaching.
The male tuatara grows to an average length of 60cm, weighs around 1kg and has an obvious crest of spines along its back. The female tuatara is smaller; they grow to an average length of 50cm and weigh about 550grams. The female's crest of spines is not as prominent as the male's.
Having babies is a slow process…
Tuatara reach sexual maturity between 15 and 20 years.
- Once every two to five years the female will be ready to mate
- Males will sit outside their burrows and when a female walks past he will circle her. If the female is interested they will mate.
- About 8-9 months after mating the female will lay and bury 6-10 eggs in a sunny nesting site
- After 11-16 months the baby tuatara will hatch
Like many other endangered species in New Zealand, a slow breeding cycle has not enabled the tuatara population to keep up with the death rate caused by predators and people. Learn how people are helping the tuatara on the Tuatara Conservation page.
Tuatara are interesting - and a bit weird…
- They are capable of holding their breath for nearly an hour
- Tuatara have one of the slowest growth rates of any reptile
- Tuatara keep growing until they are about 35 years old
- They will share burrows with birds, but a male might bite off a baby bird's head if it is hungry - which doesn't make it a very good house guest!
- Male tuatara can weigh up to 1500grams
- A tuatara's average life span is about 60 years but they can live to be over 100 years old
- At an average of 50cm long, the tuatara's size today is maybe only half of what it once was
- Like other reptiles, tuatara are cold-blooded, which means their temperatures change with the air temperature.
- Tuatara are nocturnal and prefer cool weather. However they will often bask in the sun to warm their bodies - but they are careful not to over-heat.
- Young tuatara usually hunt for food during the day - to avoid being eaten by adult tuatara at night!
- The colour of tuatara ranges from olive green to brown to orange-red, and they can change colour over their lifetime
- They shed their skin once a year
- On warm nights they come out to hunt for food - mainly insects, lizards and seabird eggs and chicks.
- Tuatara use their 'egg tooth', a spike on the end of their snout, to break out of their egg. The 'egg tooth' will fall off during the first three weeks of life.
- The male has a distinctive crest of spines running along the neck and down the back which he can fan out to attract females or when fighting with other males.
The scientific name for cold-blooded is 'poikilothermic'
Scientists at Victoria University of Wellington have been breeding tuatara in captivity and have made an interesting discovery… Tuatara incubated at 21° C had a 50/50 chance of being born male or female, but at 22° C, 80% were likely to be males. At 20° C, 80% were likely to be females. At 18° C all tuatara hatched were female - what a cool discovery!
WOW - the tuatara is an amazing creature!
And New Zealand is the only place in the whole world where it can be found in the wild.
It's great that scientists have learnt so much about the tuatara. It means everyone can help it to survive and not become extinct.
But the tuatara could become extinct if people do not protect it and look after the tuatara populations on our offshore islands and mainland sanctuaries … learn about Tuatara Conservation
This page was updated on 20 March, 2009
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Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) are reptiles that look like lizards but, often called living fossils, they are actually a different type of reptile that dates back to prehistoric periods over 200 million years ago. They eat insects like crickets, moths, beetles, and grasshoppers that they catch using their sticky fat tongues, and their diet also consists of other invertebrates like worms and snails. Additional foods in the Tuatara's diet are lizards, eggs, baby birds and smaller tuatara. They hatch from leathery-skinned eggs, and can grow to around 2 - 3 feet long (80 cm). The larger ones sometimes eat larger seabirds like petrels.
These nocturnal reptiles live on the islands off New Zealand, in burrows that they may dig themselves, but often take over from the burrowing petrels. They can have a lifespan as long as 60 years, and don't reach maturity until around 20 years old. Their numbers are reducing, and they are now considered vulnerable on the endangered species lists. They are preyed upon by rodents, pigs, and wild cats.
One of their most unique characteristics, besides their unique double row of teeth in the upper jaw, is their "third eye" called a pineal or parietal eye on top of their heads. Although this "eye" has a small lens and retina and is photoreceptive, it uses a different biochemical method of detecting light than normal vertebrates' rod cells or cone cells. The function is unknown and is under research. Tuatara have no external ears but are able to hear, and they retain some unusual features in their skeletons that may be evolutionary "left-overs" from fish.
the tuatra eats insects and birds.
The Tuatara's prey includes; beetles, crickets, and Spiders. Their diet also consists of frogs, lizards, bird's eggs and chicks.
What is the lifecycle of the tuatara?
Tuatara are very primitive lizards which can grow up to 2 feet or a bit longer. They live on small animals and insects. They mature sexually in about twenty years and the females lay eggs every 4 years. They are thought to have a lifespan of about 50 - 60 years in the wild. One example, in captivity in In Invercargill, NZ is known to be over a 110 years old.
Where can you go to buy a tuatara lizard?
The tuatara is not a lizard. It is a lizard-like reptile, but it is not a lizard. Y also cannot buy one. The tuatara is an endangered and protected species, endemic to New Zealand.
What is the order name for tuatara?
Tuatara are reptiles of the order Sphenodontia. They are the only survivors of their order, which has existed since the time of the dinosaurs.
Tuatara are lizard-like reptiles endemic to New Zealand. They are not Maori, as Maori refers to the race of people who inhabited New Zealand long before European settlement.
However, the word 'tuatara' is a Maori word. It means 'peaks on the back', referring to the spiny protuberances.
Do tuatara live in land or water?
Tuatara are terrestrial reptiles, living on land. They lay their eggs in burrows, find their food on land and shelter on land.
A tuatara is not a lizard, and it cannot be purchased. Though lizard-like in appearance, this reptile is not classified as a lizard. Being endangered, and now extinct on the New Zealand mainland, it is not available to be purchased to satisfy one's whim to have an unusual or exotic pet.
