Tuatara

Summary: Tua-what? Join Kiersten to find out what the tuatara is.

 

For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean

 

Show Notes: 

“Sphenodon punctatus (Tuatara)” Animal Diversity Web: https://www.animaldiversity.org

Music written and performed by Katherine Camp

 

Transcript

(Piano music plays)

Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 

My name is Kiersten and I have a Master’s Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you’ve become an advocate for that misunderstood animal.

This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.

The next unknown animal I have chosen takes us on a journey through ancient times. We haven’t ventured this far back in time since we talked about the coelacanth. Welcome to the first episode of tuatara. The first thing I like about this unknown animal is their continued existence. 

You may be saying tau-what? Tuatara is our next animal. Let’s jump right into the classification which will answer some of your initial questions. Like what the heck is a tuatara? Remember classification is the way scientists identify different living things including animals and plants so that we all know who exactly we are talking about. 

The classification of the tuatara is as follows:

 

Kingdom: Animalia (that’s the animals)

Phylum: Chordata (chordates)

Subphylum Vertebrata (that’s the animals that have an internal skeleton or the vertebrates)

Class: Reptilia (that’s the reptiles) Okay! Now we’re getting somewhere. Tuatara must be a reptile!

Order: Rhynchocephalia (there is only one reptile in this order) You guessed it! The tuatara.

Family: Sphenodontidae

Genus: Sphenodon

Species: punctatus

The scientific name for the tuatara is Sphenodon punctatus. 

There are two recognized species of tuatara. The Brother’s Island Tuatara is Sphendon guntheri. The first tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, is referred to as the Northern tuatara. 

Now, we know this animal is a reptile, but what does it look like? Is it small? Is it large? Is it green, brown, or purple? 

Tuatara can be green, olive, or brick red in color. Their adult size ranges from 15 inches, or 40 cm, in the female to 24 inches, or 60cm, in the male. Both male and female have two crests of dull-edged spikes that travel down the back of the head to the neck with the second on the middle of the back along the spine. The male’s crests will be larger than the female’s which helps to distinguish the sexes from each other.

They have four short legs and a long tail that usually exceeds the length of their body. They look a lot like a lizard, but they aren’t exactly lizards. We will dissect that statement in a future episode. They have no external earhole but they do have ears. They have two eyes that can focus independently and are placed on the sides of the head. 

They have a variety of scale structures along their body giving them a dinosaur-ish look.

There are a few attributes that set tuatara apart from other species of reptiles. One of those is their third eye. Yes, they have a third eye, a parietal eye, right in the middle of the top of their head. It has a retina and is functionally similar to a normal eye. In juveniles it is exposed but as it ages a scale grows over it. We are currently uncertain of its purpose. 

Another attribute that sets the tuatara apart is their teeth. Tuatara teeth are fused to the jaw bone, unlike any other toothed reptile. This is an acrodont tooth structure. This speaks to the age of this species of reptile. The tuatara is the only living specimen of Rhynchocephalia. All of them, expect the tuatara, went extinct in the late Cretaceous period. We will dive into this topic in a future episode. 

One last thing about the tuatara before we end the first episode of this new series. One tuatara, many tuatara. When talking about the tuatara, the singular is the same as the plural. 

Thank you for choosing to start this series with me.