Tuatara: Living Fossils

Hi, I'm Terry Tuatara, I breathe only once per hour!

New Zealand's Living Fossil, the Tuatara

The tuatara is New Zealand's famous gift to the world because it is the only survivor of an ancient group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs.

The dinosaur era relatives of tuatara died out about 60 million years ago which is why the tuatara is called a ‘living fossil’.

Tuatara are famous for feeding on the New Zealand weta but they predominantly prey on; including beetles, crickets, and spiders.

Their diet also consists of frogs, lizards, and bird's eggs and, fun fact, baby chicks like baby petrel which they find unprotected in nest burrows.

Weta ya reckon? Nice picture?

Tuatara once lived throughout the mainland of New Zealand but rats and people drove them to extinction in that habitat. They are now found only on 37 off-shore islands and mainland islands and specific entities like the Karori Sanctuary.

There are two species.

Sphenodon punctatus is the Cook Strait tuatara which live on Stephen's Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

The Northern tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus punctatus, is a sub-species which live on offshore islands around the north of the North Island. Total tuatara population on all these islands is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000.

You wanna share my baby Petrel?

Tuatara are cousins with Komodo Dragons, in the sense they are living relatives of the ancient dinosaurs.

Extra for Experts: Tuatara are known to have a low sex drive - this Tuatara took one hundred years before he popped his cherry!