Features and habitat of the horse
There are people who are either not familiar with the toy, or mistakenly consider this type of reptile as a lizard, but this is absolutely not the case.
Meet the Tatter or the second name of the reptile Tuatara — a reptile that survived the era of dinosaurs. In New Zealand, in the northern part there are islands whose shores are rocky surfaces.
These islands are connected by a small strait connecting the North and South Islands. In this not very cozy place of the earth reptiles live — three-eyed tuatres , forming a squad of beakheads .
It should be noted that the view of the islands, on which live the gattery is gloomy. Islands from all sides envelop thick fogs, and cold lead waves break on the rocky shores. The flora in these places is poor, and there are few vertebrate reptiles and birds in this area.
At this time, all the animals, including domestic ones, were taken from the islands, and most of the rodents were destroyed, which caused great damage by eating the eggs of the tuters and the young offspring of the Tuatars.
Currently, the New Zealand government has taken under the protection of amazing reptiles, which are called » living minerals «. As a result, it was possible to stop the extinction of these species of reptiles and to increase their numbers.
Today, the population of the Gattery has at least 100 thousand individuals. A zoo in Australia has joined this movement and now you can also see interesting animals on its territory, originating from the time of dinosaurs.
To the question: “ Why is the tongue called a living fossil ?” Experts say that the tailter has the right to be called a living fossil, and all because the reptile belongs to relict species of reptiles, whose age is more than 200 million years.
In appearance, the Gattery resembles the iguana remotely. The internal structure of them looks like a snake, something is taken from turtles and crocodiles, even there are elements of fish and what is most surprising is their organs, the structure of which was in the most ancient species of dinosaurs.
From the large representatives of lizards, the listeria , above all, is distinguished by the unique structure of the skull. An interesting feature is the jaw, located at the top, the sky and the upper part of the skull.
The described parts of the reptile can move separately from the internal part of the skull, where the Tuatars brain is located. In this photo, the tailter can be well viewed and compared with the lizard .
Even the male cannot boast of body size, because the tuatre is an animal the size of only 0.7 meters from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose, and its mass does not exceed 1000 g.
On the back, along the ridge, there is a ridge consisting of triangular plates. What is interesting is that this particular comb gave the name «Tuatar», because in translation this word means «prickly».
In the photo, the third eye of the tuater
The body of the animal is covered with scales of a greenish hue with an admixture of gray, also the horse has paws, which, although short, are very powerful and have a long tail. A distinctive feature of the tuatary is the presence of the third eye — parietal eye, located on the occipital region. In the photo , where an adult individual poses, one can see the unique structure of the horse .
Just do not try to look at the third eye in the photo of an adult reptile, because this organ can only be seen well in the young. The third eye in appearance looks like a small spot, surrounded on all sides by scales, but the unusual eye has a lens, and in the structure there are cells that react to light, but the body does not have muscles that help focus the position.
When young gatterii grow up, their third eye becomes covered with skin and it is not possible to examine it. As a result of numerous experiments, experts came to the conclusion that the third eye is an organ that is not visual, but it is capable of perceiving heat and light.
Character and Lifestyle
Tuatara is a nocturnal reptile. Actively behaves at temperatures not higher than +8 ºС. All metabolic processes and life cycles in all species of gatteria, which, by the way, are only two occur slowly, even breathing in reptiles is slow — it takes at least 7 seconds between inhalation and exhalation.
Tuatara does not die even if it does not take a single breath for 60 minutes. The beak-headed gatterias are not indifferent to water, they are very fond of water procedures. It should be noted that they are excellent swimmers. But runners from them useless, short legs are not provided for marathons.
Tuatara is a unique reptile that can make sounds. The silence of the night in the habitats of the gatteries is often violated by their hoarse voices. An interesting feature of this species of reptile lies in the fact that the hatteriamakes its home in the petrel nests — birds inhabiting the islands of New Zealand.
Birds, naturally, are not satisfied with such insolent behavior of reptiles, but they have no choice but to give up their homes and get away. Initially, experts believed that the coexistence of birds and the gattery was possible, but after observing it became clear that reptiles were ruining the petrel nests during the nesting period.
Nutrition
As mentioned earlier, the Tuatara is inactive during the day, and it also hides from predators during the daytime. With the onset of night, the hattery goes hunting. The diet of the beak — headed squad includes snails, various insect species, earthworms, and sometimes the tuber allows itself to taste the meat of young petrel birds, which happens infrequently.
Reproduction and longevity of the tuater
The entire winter period — from the middle of the first spring month to the middle of August, the beak-headed hibernate. In the spring period in this species of reptiles the reproduction period begins.
It should be recalled that the height of the marriage season falls according to our standards in January, but spring is coming in New Zealand at this time. The reptile becomes sexually mature by the age of 20, almost like our people.
A pregnant female has been walking for almost 10 months. The female is able to lay up to 15 eggs. She carefully buries her eggs in the hole and leaves there for the entire period of incubation, which lasts 15 months. Such a period is no longer known to any known reptile species.
The biological peculiarity of the slow pace of vital processes makes it possible for the bacteria to live for a long time. Very often these reptiles live to the centenary of the anniversary.
The secret of longevity is that reptiles lead a measured life, they apparently have no hurry, and living conditions on the shores of New Zealand probably also prolong the life cycle of interesting and unusually unique reptiles that survived the era of dinosaurs.
