INVERCARGILL TUATARIUM (25/08/09)
The commercial town of Invercargill does not have much to offer the traveller other than being the nearest town to the Stewart Island ferry port. What it does have, however, is the best Tuatarium in the country. A Tuatarium, in case you don't know, is where a captive Tuatara lives. And a Tuatara is (to Adam at least) is a fascinating and beautiful creature and one of the highlights of the trip.
What is so interesting about the Tuatara is that while it looks similar to many lizards that are alive today it is, in fact, not closely related to them at all. It is the sole surviving member of a family of reptiles of which all other members went extinct 200 million years ago. This puts it in the amazing taxonomic position of being more closely related to a dinosaur than it is to modern reptiles. Extraordinarily a crocodile is actually more closely related to a Sparrow than it is to a Tuatara.
Another thing that makes Tuataras exceptional is their third eye on the top of their head. It is apparent in baby Tuataras but as they get older skin and scales cover it up. It has features of an ordinary eye such as a retina, lens and cornea but the actual function is a subject of ongoing research- it is thought to perhaps be useful in vitamin D production or for detecting light cycles.
The Invercargill Tuatarium has the most successful captive breeding program for these highly endangered reptiles. They have been almost wiped out in the wild by introduced animals such as rats and stoats who prey on their eggs and young. They also have the world's oldest Tuatara who is called Henry and is over 120 years old, although he decided to stay hidden away on our visit.
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