NewZealand | 1973 | 5 Cents| Tuatara

 

Tuatara



  

Tuatara are ancient reptiles endemic to New Zealand and the sole surviving members of the Rhynchocephalia, a lineage that diverged from lizards and snakes around 200 million years ago. Resembling lizards but anatomically distinct, they reach about 80 cm and 1.3 kg, display a spiny dorsal crest, possess unique overlapping jaw dentition, and have a photoreceptive “third eye” involved in regulating biological rhythms. Though often called “living fossils,” they have undergone significant evolutionary change, and their genome is notably large. The name comes from Māori, meaning “peaks on the back.” Long threatened by habitat loss and introduced predators, tuatara survived only on offshore islands until conservation efforts enabled their reintroduction to mainland sanctuaries, where successful breeding was recorded in 2009 for the first time in roughly two centuries.



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