Tuatara

Animal Wildlife | Tuatara | tuatara lizards, tuatara pictures, tuatara photos, - The tuatara is a small to medium sized reptile, that is found only on a few small islands surrounding New Zealand. Although the tuatara was once found inhabiting mainland New Zealand in large numbers, today the tuatara is nearly extinct from the mainland. Despite the lizard-like appearance of the tuatara, the tuatara is actually only a very distant relative of the lizard and the snake. The tuatara is believed to have broken off from lizards and snakes more than 200 million years ago!.

Tuataras are usually green or brown and may reach one meter in length, the tuatara's head at the tip of its tail. The tuatara also has a ridge in the middle of this body, which is particularly striking in male tuataras. The tuatara, a reptile unique, with its long tail and a dinosaur like Crest, but the tuatara has other characteristics that distinguish it. Like all reptiles, the tuatara has excellent vision, but also tuatara has a third eye on top of your head, its use is still unknown. The tuatara is two rows of teeth in the upper jaw teeth are aligned on each side of the lower jaw.

The tuatara is a nocturnal reptile meaning that the tuatara rests during the hours of daylight and comes out to hunt for food at night. During the day, the tuatara sleeps in a burrow which it digs with it's strong claws into the ground. The tuatara also prefers temperatures that would be too cold for many other reptiles, and the tuatara hibernates during the colder winters. The tuatara is a carnivorous animal, meaning that the tuatara only eats other animals in order to survive. The tuatara primarily preys on insects, beetles, spiders, birds eggs, frogs and small reptiles and mammals.

Due to the fact that there are few real predators in New Zealand, the tuatara has no real native predators. However, since the introduction of cats, foxes, dogs and stoat, tuatara populations have been destroyed in large areas. Tuataras often live about 100 years old and so the tuatara only mates every 4 or 5 years. The female lays about a dozen eggs leather digs into the ground. The eggs of the tuatara often take more than a year to hatch. - ANIMAL WILDLIFE

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