Niramin - Jun 20th, 2016

In the Cook Strait, which separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand, the oldest creature lives - a unique three-eyed reptile tuatara or tuatara (lat. Sphenodon punctatus). This "living fossil", whose representatives existed on Earth about 200 million years ago, can be found exclusively on the territory of the rocky islands of the strait. Therefore, the unique reptile is strictly guarded, and those who wish to see the hatteria in natural environment you need to get a special pass, otherwise violators are waiting severe punishment up to and including imprisonment.

Tuatara looks like common lizard and in many ways similar to the iguana. Its olive green body, reaching a length of about 70 cm, is decorated with yellow spots. different sizes, which are located on its limbs and sides. On the back, a small ridge stretches along the spine, because of which the locals call the reptile tuatara, which sounds like “prickly” in translation. Despite the resemblance to lizards, the hatteria belongs to a special order of beakheads. This is due to the fact that reptiles at a young age have movable skull bones. Therefore, the front end of the upper jaw, while moving the head, goes down and bends back, resembling a beak. In addition, young individuals on the back of the head have a special light-sensitive organ - the third eye. This amazing reptile has a slow metabolism. Therefore, it grows very slowly and reaches puberty only by 15-20 years. Hatteria belongs to centenarians and lives for about 100 years.

The reptile feeds mainly on various insects, worms, spiders and snails, and during the breeding season, the tuatara does not disdain the meat of gray petrel chicks, in whose nests it often settles for living together.

Due to the uniqueness of the hatteria, a special regime has been introduced on all the islands where it is found. There are no dogs, cats, pigs and rodents. They were taken out of here so that they would not eat eggs and young individuals.

















Photo: Hatteria.


Video: Living fossil — The amazing Tuatara reptile

Video: Tuatara

Video: Tuatara

Not far from New Zealand in the Cook Strait is a very small island of Stevens. Its area is only 1.5 square kilometers, but almost all zoologists in the world want to visit it. And all because one of the largest populations of tuatara is concentrated here.

tuatara- Very rare view reptiles. Outwardly, they are very similar to lizards, especially iguanas, but the tuatara belong to the ancient order of beakheads. The reptile has gray-green scaly skin, a long tail and short clawed feet. On the back is a toothed comb, because of which the tuatara is called tuatara, which means "prickly" from the Maori language.

The tuatara is nocturnal, thanks to the well-developed parietal eye, the reptile is perfectly oriented in space in the dark. The reptile moves slowly, listlessly dragging its belly along the ground.

Tuatara lives in a hole together with a gray petrel. This bird nests on the island and digs a hole for itself, and the reptile settles there. Such a neighborhood does not bring trouble to anyone, since the petrel goes hunting during the day, and the tuatara - at night. However, very rarely the reptile attacks petrel chicks. When the bird leaves for the winter, the tuatara stays in the burrow and hibernates.

An interesting fact is that the tuatara is the same age as dinosaurs. This order of reptiles lived in Africa, North America, Europe and Asia 200 million years ago, but today small populations can be found on small islands near New Zealand.

For two hundred million years, the tuatara has not changed much, they have retained some structural features of the body inherent in most prehistoric reptiles. In the temporal parts of the skull there are two bony hollow arches that prehistoric lizards and snakes had. Along with the usual ones, tuatara also have ventral ribs; only crocodiles have a similar structure of the skeleton.

In addition to being a living relic, the tuatara has a number of interesting features.

For example, it is distinguished by its ability to lead active image life at -7 degrees Celsius.

The life processes of the tuatara are slow - it has a low metabolism, one breath lasts about 7 seconds, and it can hold its breath for an hour.

In addition, the tuatara is one of the few reptiles that has its own voice. Her drawn out loud cries can be heard during times of unrest.

Hatteria is an endangered rare species of reptiles, therefore it is under protection and is listed in the IUCN Red Book.

In New Zealand, on small rocky islands to the north of it and in the strait between the North and South Islands, lives a creature older than some Jurassic giant lizards. This is the famous three-eyed reptile - tuatara.


These reptiles appeared about 200 million years ago and have not changed a bit since then. That is, in front of you you see a real “living fossil”.


"Living Fossil"

At first glance, the hatteria looks like an ordinary one. large lizard Or, more specifically, the iguana. The length of her body is 65-75 centimeters, this is together with the tail. It is colored olive green or greenish gray, and yellow spots of various sizes can be seen on the sides of the body and on the limbs. Like iguanas, along its back, from the back of the head to the tail, there is a low crest, consisting of triangular plates. Thanks to him, the reptile received another name, but from local residents maori - tuatara, which means "prickly".

"Barbed"
young tuatara

But it's not a lizard. Her special structure of the body, and especially the head, did not fit the description of any of the then existing units of the class of reptiles. Therefore, in the second half of the 19th century, they established special detachment- beak-headed (lat. Phynchocephalia).



The fact is that in the structure of the skull of the hatteria there is one feature - in young individuals, the upper jaw, roof of the skull and palate are mobile relative to the braincase. This phenomenon is called skull kinetics. As a result, the anterior end of the upper jaw can be slightly bent down and pulled back with complex movements of other parts of the skull. Terrestrial vertebrates inherited this phenomenon from lobe-finned fish- their very distant ancestors. But the kinetism of the skull is inherent not only in tuatara, but also in some species of lizards and snakes.


Tuatara skull

Tuatara is special in every way. Beyond the unusual internal structure skull and skeleton, the special attention of zoologists is attracted by the presence of a peculiar organ in it - the parietal (or third) eye in the occipital part. It is most noticeable in young individuals. The eye looks like a bare spot surrounded by scales. This organ has light-sensitive cells and a lens, but it lacks the muscles to focus the location of the eye. Over time, it overgrows, and in adults it is already difficult to see it. So what is it for?



sleeping tuatara

Its purpose is still not exactly clear, but it is assumed that with its help the lizard can determine the level of light and heat, which helps the animal control its stay in the sun. Thanks to this, she can regulate her body temperature.



Slow metabolism and slow life processes are another feature of its biology. Because of this, it grows and develops very slowly. The tuatara reaches sexual maturity only by 15-20 years, and its life expectancy is about 100 years. I immediately remembered another long-liver of the animal world - which, to our surprise, does not have a slow metabolism, but can easily live for a century.

dwelling

The next feature of the tuatara lies in its cohabitation on islands with gray petrels. Reptiles settle in their nests, which causes discontent among the birds. Initially, it was believed that they could exist peacefully and friendly with each other, but it turned out that sometimes tuatara ruin their nests during the breeding season. Although the hatteria still prefers other prey, in search of which it goes at night. It feeds on earthworms, snails, insects and spiders, but, as it turned out, sometimes a new dish is added to this menu - the meat of a young bird.




At the height of summer, which begins in January in the Southern Hemisphere, the breeding process begins in the hatteria. After 9-10 months, the female lays 8-15 eggs, which are buried in small minks. The incubation period is very long - 15 months, which is unusual for other reptiles.


Tuatara egg

Due to its importance to science and its limited habitat, the tuatara is protected. On all the islands where it lives, a reserved regime has been introduced for about 100 years. All dogs, pigs and cats were taken out from there, rodents were destroyed, as they caused serious damage to the population of this “living fossil”, destroying their eggs and juveniles. Visiting these islands is now possible only by special invitation, and violators face imprisonment.

This is the only modern representative of the order of beak-headed reptiles. Outwardly similar to a lizard. Along the back and tail there is a crest of triangular scales. Lives in burrows up to 1 m deep. Before the arrival of the Maori and Europeans, it inhabited the North and South Islands of New Zealand, but late XIX century was exterminated there; preserved only on nearby islands in a special reserve. Located in the Red Book International Union nature conservation and natural resources(IUCN). Successfully bred at the Sydney Zoo.

Animals similar to the hatteria - homeosaurs - lived 140 million years ago in that part of our planet that has become Europe today.

From the famous English navigator James Cook, Europeans learned that in New Zealand there is “a gigantic lizard up to two and a half meters long and as thick as a man.” She supposedly "attacks sometimes even people and devours them." It must be said that Cook's story contains some exaggerations. The length of the tuatara together with the tail (male) is at most 75 cm (weight about a kilogram), and the tuatara does not hunt a person, but is content with more modest prey - insects, earthworms, sometimes lizards.

Europeans who arrived in the footsteps of Cook in New Zealand, almost put an end to the history of beakheads, numbering over 200 million years. More precisely, not they themselves, but rats, pigs and dogs that arrived along with people. These animals exterminated the juveniles of the tuatara and ate its eggs. As a result, the hatteria almost disappeared. Now the hatteria is taken under strict protection: whoever catches or kills this animal runs the risk of going to jail. Few zoos in the world can boast tuatara in their collections. famous English naturalist Gerald Durrell managed to get offspring of tuatara in his zoo, which he was presented with by the New Zealand government. Thanks to environmental protection measures by the end of the 70s. In the 20th century, the number of tuatara increased slightly and reached 14 thousand copies, which brought these animals out of danger of extinction.

For an uninitiated person, the hatteria (Sphenodon punctatus) is simply a large, imposing lizard. And indeed - this animal has greenish-gray scaly skin, short strong paws with claws, a ridge on the back, consisting of flat triangular scales, like agamas and iguanas ( local name tuataria - tuatara - comes from the Maori word for "spiky"), and a long tail.

However, the hatteria is not a lizard at all. The features of its structure are so unusual that a special detachment was established for it in the class of reptiles - Rhynchocephalia, which means "beak-headed" (from the Greek "rynchos" - beak and "kephalon" - head; an indication of the premaxilla bending down).

True, this did not happen immediately. In 1831, the famous zoologist Gray, having only the skulls of this animal, gave it the name Sphenodon. After 11 years, a whole copy of the tuatara fell into his hands, which he described as another reptile, giving it the name Hatteria punctata and referring it to lizards from the agam family. It wasn't until 30 years later that Gray established that Sphenodon and Hatteria were one and the same. But even before that, in 1867, it was shown that the similarity of the hatteria with lizards is purely external, and in terms of the internal structure (primarily the structure of the skull), Tuatara stands completely apart from all modern reptiles.

And then it turned out that the tuatara, now living exclusively on the islands of New Zealand, is a “living fossil”, the last representative of the once common group of reptiles that lived in Asia, Africa, North America and even in Europe. But all other beakheads died out in the early jurassic, and the tuatara managed to exist for almost 200 million years. It is amazing how little its structure has changed over this vast period of time, while lizards and snakes have reached such a variety.

A very interesting feature of the tuatara is the presence of a parietal (or third) eye that fits on the top of the head between two real eyes. Its function has not yet been elucidated. This organ has a lens and a retina with nerve endings, but is devoid of muscles and any adaptations for accommodation, or focusing. In a young tuatara that has just hatched from an egg, the parietal eye is clearly visible - like a naked speck surrounded by scales that are arranged like flower petals. Over time, the "third eye" is overgrown with scales, and in adult tuatara it can no longer be seen. As experiments have shown, the tuatara cannot see with this eye, but it is sensitive to light and heat, which helps the animal regulate body temperature, dosing the time spent in the sun and in the shade.

However, similar education in the upper part of the brain is present in all vertebrates, only it is hidden under the skull.

As excavations show, not so long ago, tuatara were found in abundance on the main islands of New Zealand - North and South. But the Maori tribes who settled in these places in the 14th century significantly reduced the number of Tuatars. An important role was played in this by animals that arrived with people, which are not characteristic of the fauna of New Zealand. True, some scientists believe that the hatteria died due to a change climatic conditions. Until 1870, it was still found on the North Island, but at the beginning of the 20th century it was already preserved on only 20 small islands, of which 3 are in the Cook Strait, and the rest are off northeast coast north island.

The view of these islands is gloomy - cold leaden waves break on the rocky shores shrouded in mist. The already sparse vegetation was badly damaged by sheep, goats, pigs and other wild animals. Now, every single pig, cat, and dog has been removed from the islands where Tuatara populations have survived, and the rodents have been exterminated. All these animals caused great damage to tuatarams, eating their eggs and juveniles. Of the vertebrate animals on the islands, only reptiles and numerous sea ​​birds setting up their colonies here.

Female tuatara are smaller and almost twice as light as males. These reptiles feed on insects, spiders, earthworms and snails. They love water, often lie in it for a long time and swim well. But the tuatara runs badly.

Tuatara is a nocturnal animal, and, unlike many other reptiles, it is active when relatively low temperatures— +6°…+8°C is another interesting feature of its biology. All life processes in the hatteria are slow, the metabolism is low. There is usually about 7 seconds between two breaths, but a tuatara can stay alive without taking a single breath for an hour.

Winter time - from mid-March to mid-August - tuatara spend in burrows, falling into hibernation. In spring, females dig special small burrows, where with the help of their paws and mouth they carry a clutch of 8-15 eggs, each of which is about 3 cm in diameter and is enclosed in a soft shell. From above, the masonry is covered with earth, grass, leaves or moss. The incubation period lasts about 15 months, which is much longer than that of other reptiles.

Tuatara grows slowly and reaches puberty no earlier than 20 years. That is why we can assume that she belongs to the number of outstanding centenarians of the animal world. It is possible that the age of some males exceeds 100 years.

What else is this animal famous for? Tuatara is one of the few reptiles with a real voice. Her sad, hoarse cries can be heard on foggy nights or when someone bothers her.

Another one amazing feature tuatara - its coexistence with gray petrels, which nest on the islands in their own dug holes. Hatteria often settles in these holes, despite the presence of birds there, and sometimes, apparently, destroys their nests - judging by the finds of chicks with bitten heads. So such a neighborhood, apparently, does not bring great joy to the petrels, although usually birds and reptiles coexist quite peacefully - the tuatara prefers other prey, which it goes in search of at night, and in the daytime the petrels fly into the sea for fish. When the birds migrate, the tuatara hibernates.

The total number of living tuatara is now about 100,000 individuals. The largest colony is located on Stephens Island in the Cook Strait - there, on an area of ​​​​3 square meters. km lives 50,000 tuatars - an average of 480 individuals per 1 ha. On small islands less than 10 hectares in size, populations of tuatara do not exceed 5,000 individuals. The New Zealand government has long recognized the value of the amazing reptile for science, and there has been a strict conservation regime on the islands for about 100 years. You can visit them only with special permission, and strict liability is established for violators.

Tuatara are not eaten and their skins are not in commercial demand. They live on remote islands, where there are neither people nor predators, and are well adapted to the conditions existing there. So, apparently, nothing threatens the survival of these unique reptiles at present. They can safely while away their days on secluded islands to the delight of biologists, who, among other things, are trying to figure out the reasons why the tuatara did not disappear in those distant times when all its relatives died out.

Perhaps we should learn from the people of New Zealand and how to protect our natural resources. As Gerald Durrell wrote, “Ask any New Zealander why they guard the tuatara. And they will consider your question simply inappropriate and say that, firstly, this is a one-of-a-kind creature, secondly, zoologists are not indifferent to it, and thirdly, if it disappears, it will disappear forever.

The tuatara, known as the tuatara (Sphenodon punstatus), is a very rare reptile that is the only modern representative belonging to the ancient order of beakheads and the wedge-toothed family.

Description of the tuatara

At first glance, it is quite possible to confuse a hatteria with an ordinary, fairly large lizard.. But there are a number of characteristics that allow you to seamlessly distinguish between representatives of these two types of reptiles. The body weight of adult male tuatara is about a kilogram, and sexually mature females weigh almost half as much.

Appearance

Similar in appearance to an iguana, an animal belonging to the genus Sphenodon has a body 65-75 cm long, including the tail. The reptile is characterized by an olive-green or greenish-gray coloration on the sides of the body. On the limbs there are pronounced, yellowish spots that vary in size.

Also, like in the iguana, along the entire surface of the back of the tuatara, starting from the occipital region and up to the tail, there is a not too high crest, which is represented by characteristic, triangular-shaped plates. It was thanks to such a crest that the reptile received another very original name - tuatara, which means “prickly” in translation.

However, despite resemblance with a lizard, around the end of the second half of the nineteenth century, this reptile was assigned to the beak-headed order (Phynchoserhalia), which is due to the structural features of the body, in particular the head area.

A distinctive feature of the structure of the tuatara cranium is an interesting feature presented in the youngest individuals by an unusual upper jaw, skull roof and palate, which have pronounced mobility relative to the brain box.

This is interesting! In fairness, it should be noted that the presence of skull kinetics is inherent not only in such a reptile as the tuatara, but is also characteristic of some species of snakes and lizards.

Such unusual structure in tuatara was called cranial kinetism. The result of this feature is the ability of the anterior end of the upper jaw of the animal to bend slightly downward with retraction under conditions of rather complex movements in the region of other parts of the skull of a rare reptile. The feature is inherited by terrestrial vertebrates from the lobe-finned fish, which is a proven and very distant ancestor of the tuatara.

In addition to the original internal structure of the cranium and skeletal part, special attention It is worthy of domestic and foreign zoologists that a reptile has a very unusual organ, represented by a parietal or third eye, located in the back of the head. The third eye is most pronounced in the youngest immature individuals. The appearance of the parietal eye resembles a bare spot that surrounds the scales.

Such an organ is distinguished by photosensitive cells and a lens, with total absence muscles that are responsible for focusing the location of the eye. In the process of gradual maturation of the reptile, the parietal eye overgrows, so in adults it is difficult to distinguish.

Lifestyle and character

The reptile shows activity only at low temperatures, and the animal's body temperature is optimal in the range of 20-23 ° C. In the daytime, the hatteria always hides in relatively deep burrows, but with the onset of evening coolness it goes hunting.

The reptile is not very mobile. The tuatara is one of the few reptiles that have a real voice, and the mournful and hoarse cries of this animal can be heard on foggy nights.

This is interesting! TO behavioral features tuatara can also be attributed to cohabitation on island territories with the gray petrel and the massive settlement of bird nests.

In winter, the animal hibernates. A tuatara caught by the tail quickly throws it away, which often allows the reptile to save its life when attacked. natural enemies. The process of regrowth of a discarded tail takes a long time.

Characteristic is the ability of representatives of the beakhead order and the wedge-toothed family to swim very well, and also to hold their breath for an hour.

Lifespan

One of biological features such a reptile as a tuatara is a slow metabolism and inhibited life processes, which causes not too rapid growth and development of the animal.

The tuatara becomes sexually mature only by the age of fifteen or twenty, and the total life expectancy of a reptile in natural conditions may well be a hundred years. Individuals raised in captivity, as a rule, live no more than five decades.

Range and habitats

area natural habitat tuatara until the fourteenth century was represented by the South Island, but the arrival of the people of the Maori tribes caused the complete and fairly rapid disappearance of the population. On the territory of the North Island, the last individuals of the reptile were seen at the beginning of the twentieth century.

To date, the habitat of the most ancient reptile New Zealand tuatara are exceptionally small islands near New Zealand. The habitat for the hatteria was specially cleared of wild predatory animals.

Tuatara nutrition

Wild tuatara has an excellent appetite. The diet of such a reptile is very diverse and is represented by insects and worms, spiders, snails and frogs, small mice and lizards.

Quite often, hungry representatives of the ancient order of beakheads and the Wedge-toothed family destroy bird nests, eat eggs and newborn chicks, and also catch small birds. The caught prey is swallowed almost completely by the tuatara, after it is only lightly chewed by very well developed teeth.

Reproduction and offspring

In the midst of summer period, which comes to the territory of the Southern Hemisphere at about last decade January, an unusual reptile, belonging to the ancient beakhead order and the Wedge-toothed family, begins the process of active reproduction.

After fertilization occurs, eight to fifteen eggs are laid by the female after nine or ten months. The eggs laid in small minks are buried with earth and stones, after which they are incubated. The incubation period is very long, about fifteen months, which is absolutely unusual for other types of reptiles.

This is interesting! The optimal temperature level, which allows an approximately equal number of tuatara cubs of both sexes to be born, is at 21 ° C.

Scientists from one of the leading Wellington Universities conducted very interesting and unusual experiments, during which they managed to establish a direct relationship between temperature indicators and the sex of the hatched offspring of the hatteria. If the incubation process occurs at temperature regime at a level of plus 18 ° C, then only females are born, and at a temperature of 22 ° C, only males of this rare reptile are born.

natural enemies

This is interesting! Due to the very low rates of metabolic processes, the reptile tuatara or the so-called tuatara has a very interesting feature– she is able to breathe with a difference of seven seconds.

At present, the process of settling the islands inhabited by "living fossils" is controlled as carefully as possible by the people themselves. So that nothing threatens the population of the three-eyed lizard, the number of all types of predators inhabiting the territory is strictly controlled.

Everyone who wants to see the unusual appearance tuatara in its natural habitat in without fail must obtain a special permit or so-called pass. Today Hatteria or Tuatara is listed on the pages of the International Red Book, and the total number of all existing reptiles is about one hundred thousand individuals.