Tuatara are pretty interesting and are known as the world's only surviving dinosaur. Here's some facts about them from NZ's Department of Conservation:
~ Tuatara are a rare reptile found only in New Zealand.
~ Tuatara are New Zealand’s largest reptile. Adult males are about 0.5 metres in length, and weigh up to 1.5 kg when fully grown.
~ The male has a distinctive crest of spines running along the neck and down the back. He can erect these spines to attract females or when fighting with other males.
~ The colour of Tuatara ranges from olive-green, to brown, to orange-red. They can also change colour over their lifetime. They shed their skin once per year.
~ Their diet consists primarily of invertebrates, such as beetles, wētā, worms, millipedes and
spiders. The remainder of what they eat is made up of lizards, seabird eggs and chicks. On occasion, they even eat their own young.
~ Tuatara can be active in cool weather, which is unusual for reptiles. It has been found in experiments that they don't thrive in constant temperatures over 25 C°. Even so, in the wild they will seek out sunny places to bask. When temperatures are low they will remain in their burrows.
~ Tuatara have one of the slowest growth rates of any reptile. They keep growing until they are about 35 years old. A Tuatara’s average life span is about 60 years, but they can live up to 100 years.
~ Tuatara once lived throughout mainland New Zealand, but naturally wild populations are now only found on islands off the northern east coast of the North Island and some islands in the Marlborough Sounds. These islands are free of rodents and other introduced mammalian predators that prey on the eggs and young of Tuatara, and compete for their invertebrate food. The islands are usually occupied by colonies of breeding seabirds. These seabirds contribute to soil fertility and thus the richness of invertebrate and lizard fauna, both of which are Tuatara prey.
~ Tuatara are the only surviving members of the order Sphenodontia. This order was well represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. All species, except the Tuatara, declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago. Because of this, Tuatara are of huge international interest to biologists. They are recognised internationally and within New Zealand as a species in need of active conservation management. The Tuatara is a single species Sphenodon punctatus. A second species Sphenodon guntheri was recognised in 1989 but discontinued in 2009 when research concluded Tuatara is best described as one species.
Thanks for the great info and the images of this rare creature.