Animals Unique | Tuatara Sphenodon Punctatus | Tuatara, a reptile found on lizardlike Several small islands off New Zealand. One species inhabits about 30 islands. In 1990, it was determined That a second species exists on one island.
Have remained almost unchanged Tuataras for some 200 million years. Adults are greenish-brown above with gray or white speckles. The underparts are lighter. A crest of white spines along the neck and Grows back. An adult male is about two feet (60 cm) long and weighs about two pounds (900 g); the female is smaller.
Tuataras are sluggish during the day but active at night when They hunt for food Such as insects, spiders, snails, and earthworms. They live in Burrows made by shore birds, ESPECIALLY petrels. In summer, the birds and the tuataras share the Burrows. If a tuatara can not find a bird Burrow, it digs its own.
In spring, the female lays from 8 to 15 soft, white eggs are about one inch That (2.5 cm) long. The young hatch more than a year later and are about six inches (15 cm) long. Their bodies are brown or gray with stripes on the throat. Tuataras do not reach sexual maturity until about 20 years They are old. Some specimens have lived in captivity for more than 50 years. Many zoologists believe That in their natural habitat tuataras may live for more than one hundred years.
Tuataras, the which are endangered, are protected by the New Zealand government.
The two species of tuatara Sphenodon punctatus and are (the more recently named) S. guntheri. They are the only living members of the order-cephalia Rhyncho.
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