A tuatara may look like your average lizard, but it’s not. The reptiles are the last survivors of an ancient group of reptiles that flourished when dinosaurs roamed the world. Native to New Zealand, tuatara possess a range of remarkable abilities, including a century-long life span, relative imperviousness to many infectious diseases and peak physical activity at shockingly low temperatures for a reptile. Now, scientists are figuring out how, thanks to the first-ever deciphering, or sequencing, of the tuatara’s genetic instruction book.
The research reveals insights into not only the creature’s evolutionary relationship with other living reptiles but also into tuatara longevity and their ability to withstand cool weather, researchers report August 5 in Nature.
Technically, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) are rhynchocephalians, an order of reptiles that were once widespread during the Mesozoic Era, 66 million to 252 million years ago. But their diversity waned over millions of years, leaving the tuatara as the last of their line (SN: 10/13/03). The reptiles have long been of scientific interest because of their unclear evolutionary relationship with other reptiles, as they share traits with lizards and turtles as well as birds.
Tuatara were once found throughout New Zealand, but now survive in the wild mainly on offshore islands and are considered a vulnerable species. The reptiles have suffered from habitat loss and invasive species such as rats, and are especially imperiled by a warming climate (SN: 7/3/08).
This peril — combined with the tuatara’s cherished status as a taonga, or special treasure, to the Indigenous Maori people — led researchers to prioritize compiling the reptile’s genome, or genetic instruction book.
In 2012, Neil Gemmell, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, and an international team of researchers began to assemble the tuatara genome, in close partnership with the Indigenous Ngātiwai people. The Ngātiwai are considered kaitiaki, or guardians, of the tuatara and were intimately involved in decisions regarding the use of genetic data from the project.
The tuatara’s genome is huge, about 5 gigabases, or some 5 billion DNA base pairs in length, the researchers found. That’s about two-thirds bigger than humans’ and is “unusually large” for a reptile, says Giulia Pasquesi, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Colorado Boulder who was not involved with the research. Lizard and snake genomes are usually around 2 gigabases, she says. Bird genomes may be half that size.
Based on the genetic analyses, the researchers confirmed that the tuatara is more closely related to snakes and lizards than to crocodilians, birds or turtles. The researchers estimate that the tuatara and their ancestors diverged from snakes and lizards about 250 million years ago, meaning the group predates even the oldest dinosaurs.
The team identified genes possibly involved in the tuatara’s biological quirks including their long lives, which are the longest of any other reptiles besides tortoises. Tuatara have many genes involved in producing selenoproteins, which help protect against aging and cellular deterioration, and have more of these genes than humans do. Such insights may eventually have useful applications for human biology, says coauthor Matthieu Muffato, a comparative genomicist at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, England.
Tuatara also appear to have an unusually high number of TRP genes, which are involved in making proteins tied to temperature sensitivity and regulation of body temperature. Those genes may be behind the reptiles’ tolerance of cool temperatures, the researchers say. Tuatara have the lowest known optimal body temperature of any reptile, from 16° to 21° Celsius.
Although the new research goes a long way to dispelling some of the mystery surrounding the tuatara, there is much to learn about these scaly enigmas.“Publishing the tuatara genome is like uncovering an ancient book,” Muffato says. “We have started analyzing it, and started decoding some of the genetic information, but we are still a long way off from understanding the complete genome.”
FAQs
Furthermore, the lizards have a high number of TRP genes which make proteins that can help an organism regulate temperature and most likely give the tautarus their ability to tolerate cold. More study of these animals will allow for application of these finding to humans and society as a whole.
How do tuataras live so long? ›
Some experts believe that captive tuatara could live as long as 200 years. This may be related to genes that offer protection against reactive oxygen species. The tuatara genome has 26 genes that encode selenoproteins and 4 selenocysteine-specific tRNA genes.
Why did the tuatara survive? ›
So Tuataras reptiles not emerged before dinosaurs, they lived side by side them. The scientific name for Tuatara is Sphenodon punctatus. The reason Tuatara was able to survive unlike its close relatives is because it has been isolated on New Zealand for nearly 85 million years ago.
What helps the tuatara survive? ›
The tuatara (1st of 2)
They have a variable body temperature which enables them to survive in New Zealand's temperate climate. Living in burrows, they hunt at night around their burrow entrances. On the menu are wetas, worms, lizards, millipedes and even small seabirds.
What climate do tuataras like? ›
Tuatara can be active in cool weather, which is unusual for reptiles. It has been found in expirements that they don't thrive in constant temperatures over 25 C°. Even so, in the wild they will seek out sunny places to bask. When temperatures are low they will remain in their burrows.
How do tuataras protect themselves? ›
While capable of digging their own burrows, tuatara often use those of the fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur), a burrow-nesting seabird. These settings provide tuatara with protection and food.
What lizard can live 100 years? ›
The tuatara, a lizard-like reptile native to New Zealand, can live well over 100 years. Henry, a tuatara at the Southland Museum in New Zealand, mated for the first time at the estimated age of 111 years in 2009 with an 80-year-old female and fathered 11 baby tuatara.
What kills tuatara? ›
The rogue rat scaled a two-metre pipe and climbed through an air vent to kill the 30-year-old tuatara. Invercargill City Council community services manager Pete Thompson told Morning Report it was devastating news. "This was one of the first breeding offspring we had at the museum, hatched in 1989," he said.
What is tuatara weakness? ›
Weak against arcane. Strong against acid and lightning. Per hit damage taken is capped.
Can tuataras be pets? ›
Can You Own A Tuatara As A Pet? No, you cannot own a tuatara as a pet. Tuatara are highly protected species and it is not legal to export them from New Zealand. Even if owning them was possible, their care requirements are extremely unique.
Although tuatara can regenerate variable portions of its tail, unsurprisingly the regeneration is very slow and because the latter happens contemporaneously with body growth, it can be considered to represent regengrow [24,52].
Are tuatara poisonous? ›
Tuatara are neither poisonous nor venomous.
What is a tuatara favorite food? ›
They eat mostly insects, especially beetles, but have been known to eat lizards, birds, and bird eggs. Young tuataras usually hunt for food during the day to keep from being eaten by adult tuataras at night!
Why do tuataras live so long? ›
They are surprisingly long-lived.
Part of the reason for their longevity may be their slow metabolism. Tuataras can tolerate much lower temperatures than most reptiles and they hibernate during the winter.
Do any lizards live 75 years? ›
The average lifespan for a Rhinoceros iguana can be anywhere from 16 to 17 years, though there is a belief that in the wild, these lizards have lived up to 75 years.
Is tuatara a dinosaur? ›
Are tuatara dinosaurs? Tuatara are often called New Zealand's “living dinosaurs”. This isn't quite right. While they have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, they are in fact Rhynchocephalia, a reptilian species that has existed for more than 200 million years.
How old do tuataras live? ›
Tuataras are not like most reptiles in that they reproduce quite slowly. They have relatively long lifespans of 60 years or more in the wild, and they can live up to 100 years in captivity. This long life means that they do not reach sexual maturity until they are between 10 to 20 years of age.
Why did the tuatara survive on New Zealand but not anywhere else? ›
The tuatara is the only living member of the order Rhynchocephalia. New Zealand is fairly cold compared to most places where reptiles are found, and tuatara have adapted quite well to the country's chilly climate.
Why are tuataras special? ›
Tuataras are the only living member of their order – they are called “living fossils” because the rest went extinct 60 million years ago! An introduced population of rats are considered to be the greatest threat to tuataras. They have two rows of teeth on the top, and one on the bottom.
What is the oldest reptile species still alive? ›
The Tuatara are only found in New Zealand and are sometimes referred to as the World's oldest living fossil. They are the only survivors of their reptile species which lived before the dinosaur age, over 200million years ago. They are the largest reptile in New Zealand but are not a lizard.
Can You Own A Tuatara As A Pet? No, you cannot own a tuatara as a pet. Tuatara are highly protected species and it is not legal to export them from New Zealand. Even if owning them was possible, their care requirements are extremely unique.
How old is the oldest tuatara fossil? ›
Navajosphenodon sani is the oldest known direct ancestor of the tuatara. The nearly complete fossil that was unearthed is the holotype, or single specimen on which the identification of this species is based.
What are 2 reasons that a tuatara is not a lizard? ›
The name “tuatara” is a Maori word meaning “peaks on back” or “spiny back.” Tuataras have no external ears as lizards do; they enjoy cooler weather, while lizards like it warm; and, unlike lizards, tuataras are nocturnal. But their most curious body part is a “third eye” on the top of the head.
