Tuatara: Aotearoa's Living Fossils

Other Cool CreaturesArtIndoor Activities
Written By Kim Manunui

Everyone seems to know about the tuatara, Aotearoa’s most well-known reptile. Their Māori name means peaks on the back and refers to their little white spines.

Tuatara are born with some funky features, including a spiny egg tooth which helps them break through their shell, and even a third eye which covers over when they are born.

Tuatara lay their eggs in burrows and cover them over with dirt. These eggs then incubate for 13-14 months before the baby tuatara hatch. The gender of tuatara hatchlings is controlled by temperature. Eggs in colder temperatures produce more females, and eggs in warmer temperatures produce more males. Unfortunately, this means that along with predation and habitat destruction, tuatara populations will change with a warming climate. They are already extinct on the mainland.

Find out more about tuatara in this video:

Tuatara can live for over 100 years, but what is even cooler is that their ancestors are from the age of the dinosaurs, 200 million years ago! Tuatara are known as living fossils. What are fossils? Learn more HERE.

Kim Manunui

Hi, I’m Kim and I work with a great team to help individuals, as well as small and not so small businesses get their message, product and services to the world using digital media and creating wonderful websites that don’t cost the earth.

I was born in Canada, and grew up around Vancouver and the mountains of British Columbia. My love of pristine environments led me to New Zealand and eventually to the mountains, lakes and rivers of the central North Island which is home. My family’s heritage is here, and it’s from here that Korio traverses the planet.

The digital world is never static and neither are we.

And I say ‘we’ because I work with an awesome group of talented people who I gather together as required to complete a project.  Whatever your business, not-for-profit or individual needs are we gather the best team to get the job done.

Collaboratively we are creative, share sustainable values and work hard for great outcomes because that’s the buzz of satisfaction that drives us.

If you have an audience and market to reach, we can make that happen. Creative design, words that work and smart behind the scenes stuff that cuts through the online noise. We’ll design your website and then build it. We’ll manage the content as well as all your hosting needs. We can handle your online advertising so you get noticed,
and we’ll manage your social media presence so you get the clicks, likes and engagement to grow your business. All within the budget you set, because none of this needs to cost the earth.  And the job doesn’t stop when your website goes live. We are your virtual business partner.

https://www.korio.co.nz
Previous

Go Fossil Hunting
Next

Lizard Identification: Skink vs. Gecko