Tuatara

    Tuatara are endemic to New Zealand. They grow very slowly, live to over 100 years old and are the only survivors of an ancient group of reptiles which roamed the earth, along with the dinosaurs, over 200 million years ago.
    Tuatara are classified as an endangered species and are now found in the wild mainly on over 30 predator-free off-shore NZ islands.
    Photographed at Nga Manu Reserve near Waikanae.

    Comments and faves

    1. Abaconda (30 months ago | reply)

      Seen and admired in New Zealand on Flickr

    2. goofypikz (30 months ago | reply)

      Wow, never knew you had this kind of beastie is Kiwiland! How big do they get?

    3. SidPix (30 months ago | reply)

      This was a mid-size beastie of about 450mm long, Gavin. However they do grow to about 750mm long with a weight of about 1200gm.

    4. ★

      zentience and jimoss added this photo to their favorites.

    5. #NKP_NZ [deleted] (26 months ago | reply)

      one of my favorite critters. brilliant shot!

    6. Anastasia Shtampf (26 months ago | reply)

      Member's Pick

    7. ★

      Anastasia Shtampf added this photo to her favorites. (26 months ago)

    8. SidPix (26 months ago | reply)


      Thanks NKP NZ and Anastasia.

    9. #NKP_NZ [deleted] (26 months ago | reply)

      Member's Pick

    10. ★

      treegrow added this photo to her favorites. (25 months ago)

    11. This photo was invited and added to the Encyclopedia of Life Images group.

    12. treegrow (25 months ago | reply)

      Thanks!

    13. EncyclopediaOfLife (25 months ago | reply)

      Encyclopedia of Life curator Katja Schulz has trusted your image on the EOL site

    14. Benjamin Burkhart (24 months ago | reply)

      Beauty, crispy photo. Nice curved position, and that open mouth tops it off! I haven't seen them this nicely in Waikanae ... in Karori they either seem to be in the bright sunlight, or half obscured, always short of a good photo.

    15. SidPix (24 months ago | reply)

      Thanks Benjamin. I sympathize with you... that's been my experience of the tuatara pix I've shot in Karori as well.

    16. ★

      Steve Taylor (Photography) added this photo to his favorites. (16 months ago)

    17. Steve Taylor (Photography) (16 months ago | reply)

      It does look slightly friendly that you might be tempted to stroke it

    18. SidPix (16 months ago | reply)

      Hmmm... I think I'll leave that to you Steve!

    19. ★

      ChrisMHardy added this photo to their favorites. (14 months ago)

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