Not everything on this web site is a bird. Sometimes I run across a mammal or reptile so unique it has to be included. That was the case with the Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus.
The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of great interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diaspsids (the group that also includes birds, dinosaurs, and crocodiles). The name "tuatara" derives from the Maori language, and means "peaks on the back." The tuatara has been protected by law since 1895. Tuatara, like many of New Zealand's native animals, are threatened by habitat loss and introduced predators. They were extinct on the mainland, with the remaining populations confined to 32 offshore islands until the first mainland release into the heavily fenced and monitored Karori Sanctuary in 2005. During routine maintenance work at Karori Sanctuary in late 2008, a tuatara nest was uncovered, with a hatchling found the following autumn. This is thought to be the first case of tuatara successfully breeding on the New Zealand mainland in over 200 years, outside of captive rearing facilities.
Photos 7952 – 7960 were taken at the Tuatara protective site at Zoolandia. Photo 733 was taken at the Tuatara exhibit at the Invercargil.