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Tuatara — printable fact sheet
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Tuatara
Sphenodon punctatus
The tuatara is not a lizard, though almost everyone assumes it is. It is the last survivor of the Rhynchocephalia, an order that split from the lizards and snakes well over 200 million years ago — every other member of its lineage is extinct, which makes it less a reptile among …
Did you know?
- Tuataras are the only surviving members of an ancient reptilian order that existed alongside the earliest dinosaurs.
- The tuatara is not a lizard — it is the last survivor of an order that split from lizards over 200 million years ago. Juveniles have a working third eye on top of the head, with its own lens and retina. Its teeth are fused extensions of the jawbone and can never be replaced. Warm nests produce males, so climate warming threatens to skew the species male.
What I learned
Draw the tuatara
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