The Lonely 3-Eyed Reptile
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- čas přidán 3. 03. 2018
- The Tuatara is the last species of an ancient reptile group that evolved over 240 million years ago, and today only survives on a few islands off the coast of mainland New Zealand. In this video we examine this animal's remarkable natural history, as well as what the future might hold for the Tuatara.
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Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyncho...
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara
www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-...
animals.sandiegozoo.org/animal...
www.britannica.com/animal/tua...
web.archive.org/web/201204190...
web.archive.org/web/200706090...
teara.govt.nz/en/tuatara/page-1
www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-...
web.archive.org/web/200710212...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10...
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honestly never knew they had such odd looking skulls, especially the whole bit were their teeth are just jagged bits of the jaw bone
Yeah I didn't know about that either until I started researching them, they are really unique animals :)
agreed
evodolka That actually reminds me of turtles/tortoises.
i can see what you mean actually
I'm trying to imagine myself chewing with my jawbone.
Raising Tuatara in captivity will indeed help the population, it’s a effective method that has saved other endangered animals like the bald eagle, giant panda, and etc. from extinction. If we caused it, we can fix it.
I mean its not going all that badly tbh. Just need adequate pest control for them
Why can't they be raised in captivity to eat rats? They are large enough, and they are carnivores... they should feed them beetles, lizards, birds, and rats. Then they could reclaim their territory. And, well, they will have good food supply. Rats are quite hard to get rid of.
@@ninjahombrepalito1721 they eat the eggs
Germs many if the adults eat the rats, there will be less rats and less eggs eaten.
@@ninjahombrepalito1721 Hmm...
Tuataras are such cool creatures! it's amazing to think they're the last of an entire branch of the reptile family
I agree, they are certainly very special animals :)
Countless species are extinct, and the vast majority of them were long gone before human 'hit the scene'!
@@milesarcher8502 A bloody lot of them have gone extinct because of the human race over the last 100, 000 years though. So much so that it is often referred to as the 6th great mass extinction.
All "branches" end... there's nothing elts a branch can do, except rejoin the tree like Neanderthals did with humans......then later..end'
@@quoththeraven3985 Yes, and every living thing on earth will die in a few billion years when the sun boils away every ocean. That doesn't mean we shouldn't care.
Henry the tuatara is over 120 years old, and is still living and reproducing in invercargills museum pyramid, new zealands most successful tuatara preservational breeding sanctuary. sadly due to the buildings lack of earthquakeproof structure it has been closed down and will require over $20, 000,000nz to upgrade to new standards. 😓
I saw Henry thirty years ago.
When he is resting he is so still you cannot see either breathing or heartbeat.
I've been there
Yeah, some experts believe they could live as long as 200 years.
Henry getting it on at 120.
Henry Tuatara
Henry Stickmin
Triassic reptiles are always bizarre.
But Permian reptiles are even weirder
@@G0die16 The farther back you go, the weirder. Take the Greek gods, for instance...
all creatures from time periods not commonly explored in media (now, historical times often, and dinosaurs) is considered 'bizarre'
The Permian extinction left many open niches with little to no competition resulting in the impressive diversification of species during the Triassic... similar to literally all other extinction events. It's bizarre but it happens.
I'm from New Zealand and at my school every one allways thinks they are genuinely dinosaurs just becase they lived at the same time as them. It drives me mad. Allso you can see tuitara in its natril habitat just 5 mins drive away from wellington the capital of nz. It's a wildlife reserve called Zelandea,I would definitely visit it if you come past New Zealand.
-sorry for bad spelling.
Wow that's really cool, I'd love to see a tuatara some day, especially in its natural habitat :)
yea and there is also some at willow bank but they arent really that much but there are some : )
@Alex Nutman Dinosaurs distant cousin
@plaguelock english might not be his first language, no need to bee an asshole about it
Walter stop being an asshole he literally said he lives in New Zealand
It look like a gangster iguana
Rat sex dolls so they males waist there sperm. . If just killing them that would leave resources and space upon for others. But attacking rats reproduction
Like a baby Godzilla
@@osmosisjones4912 guess u never seen sea iguana or rock iguanas
@@osmosisjones4912 Spermicide to the balls! (In the sex doll)!
The tail area looks to me like a crocodillian!
SAVE THE TUATARAS!!!
First off: I LOVE the toxic free comments
Secondly: How is it possible for you to make such a simple topic oh so interesting, seriously! Amazing.
Haha, thanks so much :D Most of the time the comments are pretty good, sticking to science and reason hopefully encourages this I think.
NIGGA LIKES HIM SOME TOXIC FREE COMMENTS???
@@BenGThomas WHAT DID YOU SAY NIGGA????
Oh really, follow these steps:
1: Go to the speculative zoology part 1 video
2: Go to the comment section
3: Check the replies for Simon J's comment
4: Enjoy!
ur mum gay
I didn't know about the aquatic rhincocephalians. Live and learn. Thanks.
No problem :) I didn't know about them either until researching for the video, they're a surprisingly unique group!
Once you said it wasn't a lizard I must admit I thought the legs looked a little thick in comparison to lizards. Is that a differentiation or is it just me?
It might be, I'm not sure, although it could just be the angles of the photos perhaps. Depends what lizards you're comparing too I suppose, Monitor Lizards would have much thicker legs than a tuatara.
The whole thing looks thicker to me
@plaguelock
big agree, lizards are incredibly diverse in body type and shape.
@plaguelock This one's thicc though. Do you know of any reptile that is so thicc?
Zachary Handy thats what she said
Such a beautiful animal, so sad that it's dying out ;_;
We're doing our best - the ecosantuaries now have them!
We know nothing, for all we know it could secretly be evolving a new power to evolve into ultra evolution creature to evolve into the reincarnation of DINOSAURS TO FIGHT MAN... and probably fail to our technology...
People if you see a tuatara take care of it and if it multiplied realease or give it to a proper zoo
New Zealand is working to eradicate invasive mammals from more islands and fenced off areas so the amount of suitable tuatara habitat is increasing over time
Yep! They are doing better now than they have in hundreds of year
Aren't parietal eyes light sensors? Sleeping during the day and a bird of prey flies over, the passing shadow wakes them up to run and hide.
Angela Hepp Yeah that’s what I was thinking! That’s what it’s for in relation to iguanas!
plaguelock they are also called parietal eyes...
Yes, but it is more like photosensor that detects harmful amounts of UV from the sun
@plaguelock Pineal eyes are a type of parietal eyes, but in Tuatara the parietal eye is an parapineal eye.
WOKE
Got hella nerfed during the time of the dinosaurs, and the time of the mammals
I hope they do get a buff soon, seems like they deserve it by now.
The devs will work it out. Though they haven't been the best at balancing the game. I mean look at humans. Humans have changed how every server works, and they even added the urban biomes to the game.
Time of the mammals...never happened in New Zealand (except for two tiny bats), then the mammals (humans) came.
@@Kacey2301 well there are native prehistoric mammal in miocene new zealand
They weren’t nerfed, it’s just that everything else got buffed
"And dinosaurs"
*shows picture of an actual heccin' living Dinosaur*
That was an absolutely wonderful presentation. Thanks Ben and team.
Thanks for watching, glad to hear you enjoyed :)
*_gizzard the lizard wizard_*
That's King Gizzard, to you, sir.
Maybe I've got this wrong, but it's my understanding that some epigenetic DNA changes can be passed on to offspring. So if the Tuatara take longer to mature, would that mean they pass along more epigenetic DNA, and thus mature faster?
No; theoretically, this might ratger yield somewhat better adopted offspring (assuming same mechanism in reptiles as in mammals, whose epigenetics I've studied).
We must protect the Tien Lizard!
It's not a lizard
Oh my God yes.
Man, this is incredibly interesting. I've never heard of these.
Hey dude, new to your video's, really enjoying them. This one was great and I appreciate the information you're sharing with us. All the best.
This gave me an amazing fakemon idea. Thank you for the operation. I will gladly subscribe.
lets here what you got i'm genuinely curious
The SFNZ same!
.
I feel sad
@@thesfnz3104 hear*
Beautifully made video. This is a very comprehensive report on this animal I have never heard of. Please keep this sort of research up, you seem to go very in depth, and it is very wonderful to see such interest and passion in researching something like this. Best of luck on CZcams!
I remember discovering this wonderful creature when I was about 10, and spent more than a half-century pursuing my fascination for relict species. Thank you for a welcome update to a very old passion.
This is the most cute not-lizard I have ever seen and so interesting!! :D
Thank you so much for sharing the existence of this poor endangered creature
Have you also heard of the blue anole another extremely rare reptile Though because of the rarity breeders are normally just breeding them with common green and Know though because of how rare they are breeders are normally just breeding them with common green anoles
It looks quite cute
Thanks for such an informative and balanced discussion of one of my very favourite animals, the elusive tuatara.
These animals are really cute! And it's incredible how unique they are evolution-wise. Thanks for this video!
Entertaining and educational love your channel keep it up
Thanks so much! :D
Ben G Thomas no worries......
I kinda want one as a pet. But maybe they're not so great for that, especially since they breed slowly. Maybe once we learn more about breeding and keeping them in captivity and their population recovers some we could have them in home terrariums someday. Reptiles are severely underrated pets imo.
Tuatara are similar to Tortoises in the way that they live for a very long time and reach maturity later in life. Which is why Tortoises are not the most common pet Reptile.
I live in Invercargill where they're breed in captivity. I know what you mean about wanting one as a pet, but honestly they move about so little most of the time you'd get more interaction from a tautara statue than a live one.
they seem like they would be a cool pet, the only problem i see is that they can live a really long time, especially in captivity. i'd worry that they would outlive their owners! but other than that they seem chill lol
They are doing fine with NZ gov funded organizations breeding them and holding them in predator free eco sanctuaries. I know you mean well but they are best off not in private hands, ever. They require specialized care and hold major cultural significance here in NZ. The keeping of endemic reptiles as pets (especially by foreigners) is a culturally sensitive topic.
I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have seen tuatara in the wild at the wildlife sanctuary just outside wellington - they were young, so were much smaller than i was expecting, but even seeing one was so magical! The nz department of conservation has helped save so many of our unique animals here, not just tuatara, but kiwi, takahe, kakapo, and so many more have been brought back from the brink by breeding programs and rat-free sanctuaries. When you travel here from overseas, customs is incredibly strict about perishable items brought over, because our fauna and flora were so isolated for such a long period of time, and pests or diseases brought over could decimate our precious natives, like rats and dogs did in the past
I definitely just learned something new! I didn't even know these creatures existed! So interesting!!! Thank you for taking the time bring awareness to many lesser known species.. Especially those who are threatened.
He's so cute, wish I could have a breeding pair of them to increase the number of them as well to help out as I already have been a reptile breeder for over 20yrs wit iguanas and others!
@O Sullivan ?
They are doing fine with NZ gov funded organizations breeding them and holding them in predator free eco sanctuaries. I know you mean well but they are best off not in private hands, ever. They require specialized care and hold major cultural significance here in NZ. The keeping of endemic reptiles as pets (especially by foreigners) is a culturally sensitive topic.
@@PondScummer yup I understand it doesn't have a heart for all reptiles use to be a full time breeder of green iguanas for years. ..
Well done! Thanks!
Thanks for watching! :)
And that’s why I love being a New Zealander, being able to have one the last members of the dinosaur family, btw excellent video most people from other countries get all the facts and names wrong but you got them all right!
this channel is wonderful, keep up the enlightenment
Really well presented. Tuataras turn out to be more interesting than thought. I never thought much of them or their evolutionary history until now - they were more of the weird little cousins that are otherwise dull. Again, great conveying of information.
One little gripe though - shouldn't the crown group at 4:47 be Sauropsida, not Reptilia? Reptiles are paraphyletic.
Thank you! And do you mean that Reptiles are paraphyletic when birds are included? Or is there another group I'm forgetting? I probably should have noted that I meant the crown group Reptilia and not the stem group.
No, I meant they are paraphyletic under most uses, but I guess since you didn't exclude birds explicitly, then they aren't technically paraphyletic in that case.
Still, isn't there already the name of Sauropsida (or is it Diapsida?, turtles are a bit of a conundrum, if memory serves me well) to refer to the whole clade uniting lepidosauromorpha and archosauromorpha?
Yes, I think both Sauropsida and Diapsida include lepidosauromorphs and archosauromorphs, but for the sake of simplification I thought it would be best to just have it labelled as Reptilia. And yes turtle phylogeny is a fairly controversial topic, though apparently there's good evidence to support their placement in a sister clade to archosauromorphs.
I was aware of the inclusion of lepidosauromorpha within both those groups, but turtles were the confusing ones, as you've rightly pointed out..
For all the years I have owned lizards, I've caught them, looked for them and bread them. I do believe that the third eye they posses is used for detecting predators. But it is designed in a way where it picks up light or (shadows). For instance a bird flying over head casts a shadow. I consider it early warning alarm system. When it detects changes in the light spectrum it sends electrical signals to the brain sending a message to run, look up or freeze. I have seen this happen multiple times with my bearded dragons and iguanas. From either planes flying over head, waving my hand, or even birds flying over head. That's my guess at least, from observation. . .
CaliBass Slayer that’s basically the use it’s a light sensor for birds
Great content fantastic video
Thank you Ben!!
These are fabulous creatures. Thanks for the article.
Director: No, see, we wanted a three eyed RAVEN.
GOT Artist: ooooh a raven, yes , yes i understand.
there are animals with 3 eyes!?!? WHAT? This is a amazing series of video Ben, keep up the good work!
Thesaurus Rext spiders have way more.
Triops.
It's not an eye like the one we have.
One word: Scallops
3 eyes...even humans the pituitary gland is light sensitive even though its buried under our skulls...same for virtually all mammals
I would recommend visiting Zealandia in Wellington (my hometown) in New Zealand. There are plenty of Tuatara now living in the sanctuary and are almost garunteed everytime to see one.
When I was a little kid I learned a lot about animals. The Tuatara was actually my favorite, because of its unique differences. Thank you for making this video👍
If the 3rd eyes start to operating again. They'll summons the juubi
Not to mention how cute they are
Good info, watching from New Zealand 🇳🇿
Thank you for this video. I had no idea such an animal even existed. It really is remarkable and it's lineage is something worth saving.
They're so cute!!
No wonder their DNA is evolving at a fast rate considering the reduction in the genetic pool. Cool animals and a great explanation.
This is super interesting and informative, thanks for making it :)
I first learned about the tuatara from a very unlikely source; an encyclopedia from 1916 that I had bought at an antique book store near my home. Ever since then I have been fascinated by this remarkable animal.
How come when describing different animal groups birds generally appear by themselves alongside mammals, amphibians, and reptiles when they're actually dinosaurs which are reptiles?
Reptiles are usually defined paraphyletically, meaning that it excludes birds, even though it should include them to make the group monophyletic. So in a scientific definition, birds are classified as reptiles, but there seems to be a lot of confusion when you try to tell people this.
I think some people DO argue that they should be reptiles, but all groups evolved from another (invertebrates-fish, fish-amphibians, amphibians-reptiles, and reptiles-birds/mammals). I think true birds arrived not long after true mammals in the Jurassic, and I don't think *any reptiles are warm-blooded like them.
*I think some Dinosaurs were warm blooded, but I tend to think of Dinosaurs as the bird version of mammal-like reptiles (Cynodont, Dimetrodon, Gorgonopsid, ect.). Not quite reptiles or birds, but somewhere in-between with features of both.
@@RRW359 Are Synapsids still considered reptiles? I was under the impression "reptiles" now only refereed to Sauropsida and their descendants.
0:05 Check out the giraffasaurus.
Excellent presentation.
These guys are one of my favorite reptiles - as a biology/herpetology student, I would love to be able to see one in person, or even work with them in the future to support the conservation.
My green iguana has a large parietal eye. Its about 3mm x 2mm and she hates it when people touch it.
My bearded dragons have them to
Great video! One amphisbaenian genus (bipes) actually retains the front limbs. Also, I would think about them as lizards generally because they are not as highly derived as snakes are.
Ah yes, I probably should have said mostly legless. And lizard is usually used in a paraphyletic sense, excluding snakes and amphisbaenians, but I guess you could probably group them in if you wanted to make lizards monophyletic.
Nice video, well done. I am from New Zealand and spend a bit of time with tuatara that live and breed on a sanctuary island at which I volunteer.
Was a great video thank you
I want one
Tuatara: the world's most Zen reptile
Yet another unique Reptile that I had never heard of. Very interesting. Great video.................
Hi Ben, thanks heaps for making an accessible and interesting video about our native taonga. I happened to be there at the release of the first tuatara into the sanctuary in Wellington, now known as Zealandia. There is really nothing like them, even though their appearance is so lizard-like, there's so much more to them as a natural phenomenon.
I recently watched a short video documentary about the project at Wellington to remove rats from the area! They're doing a lot for restoring their native ecosystem; it's really cool!
Its so cute! Who would want to hurt it?
But why were they out-competed by their lizard cousins and archosaurs?
Andre Marchand if I were to guess, slow reproduction. They live human-like lifespans, but we protect our young, which helps us.
Beyond that guess, I'm not sure what else could have contributed.
@@TragoudistrosMPH And they're also cannibalistic, which isn't very conducive to evolutionary success.
Well just from the video, more modern lineages have teeth, faster development into adulthood, better rat coping strategies. I am confident in the last 200 million years since this lineage formed there have been other improvements as well.
The Tuatara is a remarkable animal indeed. It’s great that you make a video of this animal and include the danger of it becoming extinct due to human actions. I hope that by watching this video more people will become aware of the pressure that is caused on nature by humans. Thanks so much.
Excellent video. I live in Invercargill where the breeding program was pioneered and getting to see these guys was the main reason meusum visits were so exciting as a kid. I grew up learning that there was two species, but after watching this, and then some googling, turns out you're now correct. Gene studies in the 2000's revealed that the two species were just a single geographically separated species. You learn something every day!
I grew up in Invercargill, got to hold henry as a kid. One of the best experiences of my life.
I wonder if any effort is made to kill off the rats at some places so they can expand the reptile's habitat
This has been done on many off short islands, and a new area. Getting rid of all the imported pests is a long term job.
Already being done.
And horseshow crabs have nine eyes...
Like the tuatara it has two "eyes" on its back and then six more down the back
That's 8 not 9
It's nice to see our little lizard pop up time to time
I'm a New Zealander and I've only seen 2 tuatara in my life in person and it was in the wellington zoo lol
This is a very interesting and educational video. I've read a little about the tuatara and its 3rd eye before, but, never saw a picture of the eye. I also never understood the differences between them and lizards before. Thanks!
"...several theories of what the fu--"
*gasp*
"--nction is..."
*sigh*
It's third eye is clearly it's substand used to see 10 seconds into the future
Fact filled Interesting and informative film again 👍
unreal. Feels like I’m looking back in time
Not sure why such emphasis is placed on the "third eye" it is present in dozens of species if not more and is not exclusive to reptiles or amphibians, yet your title "The Lonely, 3-Eyed Reptile" implies it's a special characteristic of the Tuatara. Kinda click-baity if ya ask me.
Seldin Gardane Then don’t watch.
@@baneofbanes r/whoosh
You can't tell if it's clickbait till after u watch it
Jacob Hoover this isn’t reddit dumbass.
Excellent video as always Mr. Thomas, and a great subject to boot. I knew a zoologist as a kid who had a tuatara about 60 or so years old he would occasionally use for outreach, it was a real fucking dinosaur! Easily the coolest animal in his care, and he had blue tongued skinks and a new guinea singing wild dog.
It looks like what I imagine some dinosaurs to look like... The head and jaws anyway. Gorgeous animals, and great video! The third eye is so strange!!!
I love tuataras, i remember reading about them when i was a kid, such interesting creatures.
I'd heard of the Tuatara but until now I had _no idea_ of the Rhynchocephalia! Very fascinating!
Nice job man
As a child, 45 years ago, I remember going to see tuatara at the Southland Museum in Invercargill the southernmost city in New Zealand. Only one other city in Chile is further south than Invercargill.
I had no idea. Thanks for the insight.
I remember seeing tuataras for the first time at the Dallas Zoo. Amazing reptiles! I was so giddy I nearly forgot to take pictures
Such a rugged looking beast.
The lifespan is amazing also, got to keep these guys going
And he really understates the lifespan in the video. Henry the tuatara made the news by becoming a first time father at 111. That was over 10 years ago and he's now around 121 years old. Some experts believe tuataras may live as long as 200 years.
such an adorable and interesting reptile!!
They are now #1 on my personal cutest reptile list
Man i hope it's not too late for these guys to survive. I've never heard of them but just with this one video I love them.
Thank you so much for teaching me about the tuatara to pursue my career in hepatology.
its really cool to see an extant species like this!
Incredible !
Very interesting !
tēna koe! thank you for raising awareness!!
A third eye may be for detecting objects above the head. Like a certain type of blindness in humans, it allows the brain to detect obstacles around them, but sends no information to parts of the brain that allow the individual to perceive sight.
I learned a lot from this! Awesome! I hope Tuatara will be fine...
Thank you
Thank you for teaching me about this wonderful creature ^^, I hope some day to see them, I working on my wildlife biologists degree, I'm gonna add them to my list ^^, of helping ^^
Excellent!:-)💜
4:37 That, is not a dinosaur, it's a modern bird, called a cassowary.
That third eye might be there to help them orient themselves according to the sun. Honey bees have 5 eyes, 2 main large ones for seeing details, and 3 small ones on the very top of their head. These are used to orient themselves to the sun and they use that information to help them navigate to new food sources and to find their way home.
@Bring peter griffin to Super Smash bros They evolved from dinos, yes. However, they are different now. They're not fully dinosaurs any more, close, but not the same. Just as we evolved from apes, but we are not apes any more. We can be considered primates, but we are not apes, just as apes are not monkeys any more.
Birds are now their own sort of species, their own class and have been for some time.