Tuatara

The tuatara is a spiky-backed reptile that lives only in New Zealand. It looks a bit like a chunky lizard, with a row of soft spines running down its neck and back, but it is not a lizard at all. The tuatara belongs to its own very special family, and it is the only member of that family still alive today.

Scientists call the tuatara a “living fossil.” Its relatives were around at the same time as the dinosaurs, millions and millions of years ago. All of those cousins have long since disappeared, but the tuatara has kept going, almost unchanged, right up to now. That makes it one of the most amazing survivors on the whole planet.

Tuatara have a hidden surprise on the top of their head: a tiny “third eye.” When a tuatara first hatches, you can see it as a small clear patch. It can sense light and dark, and it probably helps the tuatara keep track of day, night, and the seasons. As the tuatara grows up, a covering of scales grows over the spot and hides it away.

These reptiles love the cool. While most reptiles need to bask in warm sunshine, the tuatara stays busy even when the air is chilly, moving about on nights that would send other reptiles to sleep. They come out after dark to hunt beetles, crickets, big crunchy insects called wētā, spiders, and worms, and they will also snack on eggs and chicks from the seabirds that share their islands.

Tuatara take life slowly. They grow for about the first 35 years and can live to be more than 100 years old, which means a single tuatara might see a whole century go by. Long ago they lived all over New Zealand, but they vanished from the main islands and survived on smaller islands offshore.

Today the tuatara is listed as Least Concern, which is good news. People in New Zealand work hard to look after it — clearing away introduced rats that eat tuatara eggs and babies, and moving tuatara to safe, predator-free islands and sanctuaries so this ancient reptile can carry on for many centuries more.