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110 Year old living fossil becomes a Dad
- Thread starter DaveDragon
- Start date
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- 411
I just finished reading that on another site, pretty cool eh?
Spencer
Spencer
"Now, Henry lives peacefully with Mildred and two other females. Breeders are hoping he'll show interest in Lucy, who is about the same age as Mildred, later this year. Female tuataras only lay eggs every two or three years, so Mildred likely won't be interested."
LOL LOL LOL LOL ... even for an old guy...hahaha.
This is an awesome article btw. Why do they live so long relative to other species? I mean, if a beardie lives about 10 years...that's a huge difference!
LOL LOL LOL LOL ... even for an old guy...hahaha.
This is an awesome article btw. Why do they live so long relative to other species? I mean, if a beardie lives about 10 years...that's a huge difference!
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There 200 million years old, so I'm gonna say that has a big role in why they live so long.
Spencer
Spencer
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- 378
Henry is actually quite famous - he was the model for an old New Zealand 5 cent coin which is no longer in use.
It's important to remember that these are NOT lizards. This explains why they differ from lizards in so many ways, most noteably in the morphology of the skull. Although Rhyncocephalia (tuatara) and Squamata (lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians) are accepted as taxonomic sister groups, the split between the two groups likely occurred millions of years ago, giving each group plenty of time to evolve significant differences.
They are also not closely related to dinosaurs. Of all the extant reptiles, dinosaurs are most closely related to crocodilians (and birds). The split between the dinosaur/crocodile/bird group (Archosauria) and the squamate/tuatara group (Lepidosauria) occurred quite a bit earlier than the split between squamates and tuatara.
Usually it is thought that their long life span partly reflects the relatively cold New Zealand climate.
It's important to remember that these are NOT lizards. This explains why they differ from lizards in so many ways, most noteably in the morphology of the skull. Although Rhyncocephalia (tuatara) and Squamata (lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians) are accepted as taxonomic sister groups, the split between the two groups likely occurred millions of years ago, giving each group plenty of time to evolve significant differences.
They are also not closely related to dinosaurs. Of all the extant reptiles, dinosaurs are most closely related to crocodilians (and birds). The split between the dinosaur/crocodile/bird group (Archosauria) and the squamate/tuatara group (Lepidosauria) occurred quite a bit earlier than the split between squamates and tuatara.
Usually it is thought that their long life span partly reflects the relatively cold New Zealand climate.
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They are one awesome animal, I have only seen pictues, but they are really something.
interesting article
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the look like a cross between a crock and iguana, man what i would do to own one. (only if they weren't close to extinction of course)
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the look like a cross between a crock and iguana, man what i would do to own one. (only if they weren't close to extinction of course)
