16 Facts About Tuatara

Tuatara are sometimes referred to as "living fossils", which has generated significant scientific debate.

Tuatara shed their skin at least once per year as adults, and three or four times a year as juveniles.

Tuatara has a third eye on the top of its head called the parietal eye.

Tuatara spine is made up of hourglass-shaped amphicoelous vertebrae, concave both before and behind.

Tuatara has gastralia, rib-like bones called gastric or abdominal ribs, the presumed ancestral trait of diapsids.

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Tuatara were originally classified as lizards in 1831 when the British Museum received a skull.

Tuatara proposed the order Rhynchocephalia for the tuatara and its fossil relatives.

Tuatara have been referred to as living fossils, due to a perception that they retain many basal characteristics from around the time of the squamate–rhynchocephalian split.

Tuatara thrive in temperatures much lower than those tolerated by most reptiles, and hibernate during winter.

Tuatara are absolutely protected under New Zealand's Wildlife Act 1953.

Tuatara were once widespread on New Zealand's main North and South Islands, where subfossil remains have been found in sand dunes, caves, and Maori middens.

Tuatara were removed from Stanley, Red Mercury and Cuvier Islands in 1990 and 1991, and maintained in captivity to allow Polynesian rats to be eradicated on those islands.

Tuatara are regarded as the messengers of Whiro, the god of death and disaster, and Maori women are forbidden to eat them.

Tuatara indicate tapu, beyond which there is mana, meaning there could be serious consequences if that boundary is crossed.

Tuatara was featured on one side of the New Zealand five-cent coin, which was phased out in October 2006.

Tuatara was the name of the Journal of the Biological Society of Victoria University College and subsequently Victoria University of Wellington, published from 1947 until 1993.