Tuatara!

23.07.19


Published by Anika. R

🦎Tuatara!


The Tuatara are native to New Zealand. Tuatara have been originally all over NZ. Tuatara have been around for over 200.25 million years. Tuatara are nocturnal reptiles. Tuatara have been only found in the offshore predator free island.

The differences about a Tuatara are, they don’t have external ear drums like lizards, Tuatara have extra holes in their skull and they have different ribs. The difference about there ribs are that there ribs are not attached to the spine or thoracic ribs.

Tuatara are born with an extra eye. The eye is on their forehead. The eye is only visible when they are hatchlings. There is a translucent patch at the top of their forehead. Once they are a few months old their scales grow over the patch. Then it isn’t visible anymore. There third eye isn’t meant for sight. It has lens and a retina. Their third eye is for absorbing UV light. They bask (which is lying down) in the sun.

The Tuatara is a carnivore, which means they only eat other animals like insects, beetles, spiders, bird eggs, frogs and small mammals and reptiles. Tuatara are sit and wait predators. When they are looking for food they usually sit and wait for their food at the mouth of their burrows.

If a Tuatara is fighting for either a girlfriend or a burrow they would make their crests stand big and tall and stand tall on there legs and puff their throats out then the biggest and scariest Tuatara would WIN!

  Did you know, Tuatara means spines in the back, in English.
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Hope you enjoyed my description of the Tuatara!