"THE LIVING FOSSIL"
The Tuatara is a lizard like creature that is only found on certain small islands around New Zealand. It is not a true Lizard but a "Living Fossil", a survivor of a group of animals that were once more widespread. They look very much like lizards but their skeleton shows many differences.
They are the only extant members of the Order Sphenodontia, which was well represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. All species apart from the tuatara declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago. Only Tuatara survived to become a "living fossil".
Tuataras survived because no predators invaded New Zealand. Terrestrial mammals failed to cross the Tasman Ocean, which separated New Zealand from Australia by opening about 90 million years ago. Tuataras are unusual reptiles, since they like cool weather. They do not survive well over 25 degrees centigrade but can live below 5 degrees, by hibernating in burrows. New Zealand climate was just right.
This little guy was about a foot long and semed quite happy to pose. Enjiy ;-))
Comments
11
Information
| Section | Nature: Amphibians & Reptiles |
| Views | 3,119 |
| Published | |
| Language |
|
| License |
Embed photo
Include in a comment, a description or a message to show this image.
Link copied...
Click on the link and use the key combination "Ctrl C" [Win] or "Cmd C" [Mac] to copy the link.
Share in Messenger
Insert the following link into the comment field of the desired conversation in Messenger using 'Paste' to send this image in the message.
Link copied...
Click on the link and use the key combination "Ctrl C" [Win] or "Cmd C" [Mac] to copy the link.
Hans-Günther Schöner 20/05/2009 7:58
Sehr schöne Makroaufnahme!!Gruß
Hans-Günther
Anca Silvia B. 14/03/2009 13:48
Great capture Rob.Cheers,Anca
Adele D. Oliver 13/03/2009 21:00
Amazing sharpness - a beautiful image. And thank you for all that interesting information.greetings, Adele
Holly H 07/03/2009 6:30
Great shot Rob!!!!!!Might be a living fossil.....looks like a lizard to me!!!!!!
hehehehehehehe
Holly :)
Light Princess 06/03/2009 17:33
and i thought you didnt do portraits ??? roflololol - ok so another slap for me :-))))Nice one Rob ! and great info too.
Hugs
Lynn xxx
Dianna 06/03/2009 6:48
great DOF, details, colors....Nicely done, Rob!
Greetings,
Dianna
Luc Grollie 05/03/2009 17:03
great capture in it's natural surrounding !!!greetz,
Canan Oner 05/03/2009 14:09
Woww..excellent capture Rob....Amazing details on this lizard...And thanks for the info...Cheers,
Canan
Eva T 05/03/2009 11:40
Really a very nice picture, very clear and good color :-)Mark Billiau. 05/03/2009 10:23
Fantastic capture of this very rare reptile.Great !
Very interesting information to read.
Good work, Rob !
Mark
s. sabine krause 05/03/2009 9:16
beautiful picture!! i just love the sparse, greyish-brown colors! and enjoyed reading your text very much!! interesting facts and a fascinating animal!! hope it's being well-preserved!! greetings, sabine.