麻豆淫院

Have you ever heard of the tuatara? It's a reptile that decapitates birds with its saw-like jaws, lives to about 100 years old, and can remain active in near-freezing temperatures.

It's also the sole survivor of a lineage as old as .

marks 150 years since the .

Most exist on windswept , where they spend their days in or basking lazily in the sun.

In the evening they are more active, and use their large eyes to spot a variety of such as beetles, spiders and snails. They also occasionally eat lizards, frogs, baby tuatara and birds 鈥� the headless bodies of birds are not infrequently reported from their island homes.

Although capable of bursts of speed, tuatara have a reputation for slowness. They grow slowly, and they .

Interestingly, they are most that would put many other reptiles out of action. New Zealand lizards have similar traits, suggesting that these characteristics are relatively recent adaptations to local conditions.

The is often referred to as having a because of a light-sensitive organ on the top of its head, similar to the ones found in many lizards.

Ancient isolation

Ancestors of the associated with New Zealand since it separated from the rest of the Gondwana supercontinent about 80 million years ago. During that time, they have had to cope with big changes in the region's shape and size (New Zealand may have been ) and, until recently, a cooling climate.

from the past few thousand years show that tuatara were widespread across the mainland until (with ) about 750 years ago.

Tuatara are now . This is because the sex of a tuatara is determined by the temperature that their eggs experience 鈥� rising temperatures will .

to cooler latitudes will hopefully reduce this problem. are also showing signs of .

A special place in biodiversity

The initial claim that was based on anatomical differences such as the presence of , which is not seen in any lizard.

Subsequent and discoveries have confirmed that the tuatara has a separate heritage.

We now know that the tuatara is the only living member of Rhynchocephalia, a reptile group that was and between and years ago. Its fossil relatives included small carnivores with , large , and even aquatic forms with .

The tuatara is often referred to as a "" or even a "living dinosaur". Although these labels are scientifically, they reflect a widespread appreciation that the tuatara has a special place in the animal kingdom.

The animal group known as "" includes more than 30,000 species divided between six major radiations: mammals (), turtles (), crocodylians (), birds (), lizards and snakes (), and ().

As the only living member of Rhychocephalia, and only living cousin to Squamata (lizards and snakes), the tuatara has an important role to play in understanding the evolution of all animals with backbones.

Recent contributions to science

Despite several hundred research articles on the tuatara, we are still learning new things about this species all the time.

The origin of male genitals

Recent examination of tuatara embryos suggests that although adult male tuatara lack external genitalia (that is, they have no external penis), their ancestors did possess a penis of some kind.

This evidence in turn supports a hypothesis that (mammals, birds, crocodiles, lizards, tuatara) but has since undergone dramatic modification and was even lost in some groups of birds as well as an ancestor of the tuatara.

Biomechanics of biting

The of the tuatara has also become an important subject for biomechanics.

Sophisticated computer models have been used to predict , , and in the bones during biting.

These models have also shown that the shearing action of the lower jaw and that the soft-tissue connections between bones are important for .

How kneecaps developed

Recently, X-ray micro CT scans of several tuatara specimens helped established which 鈥� structures at joints such as the knee cap 鈥� are likely to be relatively ancient and which are relatively new.

Culture, myths and legends

The tuatara is a national icon in New Zealand, where it has appeared on the and .

Further afield, it has also given its name to a , , a , a , a , a , a company selling , and, with no hint of irony, a that can reach a top speed of 444km per hour.

. The word "tuatara" is itself m膩ori, meaning "peaks on back" (referring to the crest along its neck and back). Tuatara are regarded as "taonga" (treasure), viewed as guardians of knowledge, and sometimes associated with bad omens.

A curious urban legend associated with the tuatara is that of the , a "curious 1-ft-long lizard-like reptile supposedly inhabiting burrows in and around Abersoch in North Wales".

Before tuatara were protected in 1895, they were commonly imported to Europe as pets and curios. Some have suggested these animals might represent escaped tuatara from that time.

Tuatara are frequently in the news. During the 1980s, wild population of tuatara were .

Henry the tuatara acquired celebrity status when he became a and met several years later.

This article was originally published on . Read the .