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 scaly gray-green 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.

Leading tuatara night image life, thanks to a 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 detachment of reptiles lived in the territories of 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 of the 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 an active lifestyle at a temperature of -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.

The tuatara, known as the tuatara (Srhenodon 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 is whole line characteristics that make it possible to easily distinguish representatives of these two types of reptiles. The body weight of adult male tuatara is about a kilogram, and sexually mature females weigh almost twice 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 cranium of the tuatara is interesting feature, represented in the youngest individuals by an unusual upper jaw, skull roof and palate, which have pronounced mobility relative to the brain box.

It 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 an 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 slightly bend downwards 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 domestic and foreign zoologists deserves the presence of a very unusual organ in a reptile, 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 the complete absence of 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 is active only in low-temperature conditions, 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.

It 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.

On the winter period the animal goes into hibernation. 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 fast 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 before the fourteenth century was introduced 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 who comes to the territory southern hemisphere around the last ten days of January, an unusual reptile belonging to the ancient order of beakheads 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.

It 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

It is interesting! Due to the very low rates of metabolic processes, the reptile hatteria or the so-called tuatara has a very interesting feature - it 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 total strength of all existing reptiles is about a hundred thousand individuals.

• Class: Reptilia = Reptiles
• Order: Rhynchocephalia Haeckel, 1868 = Beakheads, Proboscisheads
• Family: Sphenodontidae Cope, 1870 = Wedge-toothed
• Genus: Sphenodon Gray, 1831 = Hatteria, tuatara

Species: Sphenodon punctatus = Tautara, hatteria: structural features

Hatteria - at first glance, a large, impressive-looking lizard. The scaly skin of the tuatara is painted in a dull olive-green or greenish-gray color, there are small and larger yellow spots on the sides of the body and limbs. And there are short strong paws with claws. A low crest extends from the back of the head along the back and tail, consisting of flat triangular vertical plates-scales, like in agamas and iguanas. Therefore, the local name of the hatteria - tuatara - comes from the Maori word for "prickly". The body of the tuatara ends with a long tail.

Pupils big eyes located on the sides of the head, in the form of a vertical slit. The tuatara does not have eardrums or middle ear cavities. On the upper side of the head, somewhat behind the eyes, under the skin, a peculiar organ is hidden - the so-called parietal eye. In adult tuatara, it is not outwardly noticeable, but in young ones (six months old) that have recently hatched from eggs, it looks like a patch of skin surface that is not covered with scales.

The parietal eye of the tuatara is a bubble-shaped organ with a layer of light-sensitive cells and a kind of lens. The function of the parietal eye (also present in some lizards) has not yet been fully elucidated. In any case, it has photosensitivity, but most likely it does not serve as an organ of vision, but perceives only the degree of illumination, depending on the level solar radiation. Such an organ helps the animal to regulate body temperature by choosing a place and posture in relation to the sun's rays. There is a hypothesis that through this eye, young animals receive vitamin D through ultraviolet rays, which helps them develop and grow faster. Already at the age of 4-6 months, it is overgrown with scales.

The Tuatara skeleton combines a very primitive basic structure with some features of specialization. In the temporal region of the skull there are two pairs of pits - the upper and lateral temporal pits, from the edges of which the jaw muscles begin (diapsid type). The upper and lower pits of each side of the skull are separated by the bony superior temporal arch, formed by the postorbital and squamous bones, the lower temporal fossa from below is bounded by the inferior temporal arch, which in the tuatara is formed by the zygomatic bone. Such a diapsid structure of the temporal region of the skull was also found in the ancestors of modern lizards and snakes, it is also preserved in crocodiles and was present in many fossil reptiles, which are grouped according to this feature into the diapsid group (possibly related by distant kinship).

Long time they looked at the tuatara as a representative of these primitive forms. However, although the tuatara did retain many primitive features, the beakheads are by no means the ancestors of any other groups of reptiles, but are a blind lateral branch of the primitive diapsid reptiles (eosuchians). An interesting feature has been preserved in the skull of the tuatara: the upper jaw, palate and roof of the skull are mobile relative to the braincase (at least in young individuals). This phenomenon is called skull kinetics. Due to kinetism, the anterior end of the maxilla can be bent down and retracted to some extent with simultaneous complex movements of other elements of the skull. Terrestrial vertebrates inherited the kinetism of the skull from their ancestors, lobe-finned fish.

Among scientists, there is still no consensus on the functions of the kinetics of the skull. Probably, kinetism serves to better hold the seized prey in the jaws of the predator, but at the same time it can also provide cushioning of the impact of the jaws and jerks of the prey when these shocks are transmitted to the brain box. Among modern reptiles, except for the tuatara, more complex and effective forms Lizards and snakes possess the kinetism of the skull. Primitive in the skull of the tuatara is the direct articulation of the vomers and pterygoid bones. Features of high specialization - the loss of the lacrimal and superior temporal bones.

The teeth of the tuatara are simple wedge-shaped; they grow to the upper edge of the lower and lower edge of the upper jaws (acrodont). In adult animals, the teeth are worn out so much that the bite is already made by the very edges of the jaws, the covers of which are keratinized. The second row of teeth is located on the palatine bone; the teeth of the lower jaw enter between these two dentitions. The vertebrae retain a primitive biconcave (amphicoelous) structure. The lost tail regenerates. In addition to the usual ribs bearing backward uncinate processes, there is also a series of so-called abdominal ribs located between the sternum and pelvis under the skin. Among modern reptiles, both the hook-shaped processes and the ventral ribs, except for the tuatara, have been preserved only in crocodiles.

In the shoulder girdle, in addition to the scapula and coracoid, there are clavicles and an unpaired interclavicle. The internal structure of the tuatara is close to that of lizards, differing in some primitive features. So, in the heart there is a venous sinus (sinus), where the hollow veins flow. This section is present in the heart of fish (where the cardinal veins or Cuvier ducts flow into it) and in the heart of amphibians, but is absent as a special section of the heart in other modern reptiles. The cloaca of the tuatara, like that of lizards, has the form of a transverse slit.

I know the world. Snakes, crocodiles, turtles Semenov Dmitry

Tuatara: living fossils

Tuatara: living fossils

Tuatara, or tuatara, have been known for a long time. At first they were mistaken for lizards, but in 1867 a sensational scientific conclusion was made: despite the superficial similarity, tuatars are not lizards at all, but representatives that have survived to this day. ancient group reptiles, which was considered extinct along with dinosaurs 65 million years ago. In internal structure there are so many unusual tuatara that there is no doubt about their “non-lizard” origin.

Tuatara

It is especially interesting that for tens of millions of years the tuatara have changed little and their modern representatives hardly differ from their fossil ancestors. That is why tuatara are called "living fossils".

Recently it turned out that in reality there are two types of hatteria living on islands located close to each other off New Zealand. Relatively recently, these unique animals also inhabited the two large main islands of New Zealand, but quickly disappeared here when people mastered the islands.

On the deserted islands, where the tuatara are still preserved, the living conditions cannot be called easy. These islands have sparse flora and fauna, they are blown by all winds and are devoid of springs. fresh water. Tuataras usually live in burrows dug by petrels, but sometimes construct own dwellings. They feed on any small living creatures that they can get on the harsh islands.

The whole way of life of the hatteria is consistent with the name "living fossil". They are active at unusually low temperatures for reptiles, and everything in their life proceeds unusually slowly. They crawl slowly, the female lays eggs only about a year after mating, the incubation of eggs lasts another year, or even longer, the cubs become adults only by the age of 20 (that is, later than a person). Like lizards, they can shed their tails, but it takes a few years for them to grow a new one. In general, it seems that time is nothing for them. In this cool-slow state, tuatara can live up to 100 years.

Compared to lizards, tuatara are rather large animals, reaching a length of 60 cm and a body weight of 1.3 kg.

Currently, tuatara are carefully guarded, and their total number reaches 100 thousand individuals.

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Hatteria is a reptile that has three eyes. She lives in New Zealand. Scientists have found that they began their existence somewhere two hundred million years ago and did not succumb to changes during the entire time of their existence on the planet.

Tuatara

An interesting fact is that the tuatara could, in such difficult living conditions, survive the most big creatures on earth, dinosaurs.

The discoverer of the tuatara is considered to be James Cook, who saw the tuatara during his travels in New Zealand. Looking at the hatteria for the first time, it may seem that this is an ordinary lizard. The length of the tuatara is 65-75 centimeters, taking into account the tail. The weight of the hatteria does not exceed 1 kilogram 300 grams.

On average, she lives 60 years, but sometimes the age reached 100 years. Readiness to enter into sexual intercourse appears in tuatara after reaching 15-20 years. Mating occurs at intervals of four years. Hatteria babies are born in almost 12-15 months. Due to such a long period of reproduction of their own kind, tuatara too quickly decrease in number.

Particular activity was observed at night. The tuatara has a superbly developed parietal eye. This part of the body has a connection with the emergence and function of the pineal gland. The reptile has an olive-green or greenish-gray color, and yellowish spots are visible on its sides. On the back is a crest, parts of which resemble triangles. That is why sometimes the reptile is called "prickly".

Hatteria cannot be attributed to lizards due to the structure of the head. Therefore, scientists in the XIX century. proposed to separate them into a separate detachment - beakheads. The thing is that reptiles have a peculiar structure of the skull. The uniqueness lies in the fact that in young tuataras the upper jaw, upwards of the skull and palate move in relation to the brain box. In scientific circles, this is called skull kinetics. That's why top part the head of the tuatara tends to tilt down and change position to the opposite during the movements of the rest of the skull.

This skill was transferred to reptiles by lobe-finned fish, which are their ancient ancestors. It should be noted that kinetism is also inherent in some varieties of lizards and snakes. In addition, today the number of hatteria on the planet is sharply decreasing. Concerning this species reptiles are subject to special control and protection.

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