B Y R O S E WI L L I A M S

A Tuatara eats flies, worms, crickets, moths, huhu grubs, wetas and small bits of fish.
The Tuatara choses these sort of foods because they carry exactly what they need.
The wetas is a Tuatara’s favourite food because it has lots of meat and its BIG!
Tuatara prefer their food new and still living.

Tuatara live in native New Zealand bush and forest. They live on the ground but lay their eggs in burrows so they are protected for danger but even though the eggs are in burrows that doesn’t always mean they are protected from stoats, birds and rats. When Tuatara’s are born they are 3-5cms long and at full grown they are 30-75cms long. Although Tuatara can live for 100 years or more they stop growing at thirty five years old.

Humans have changed the way Tuatara live by cutting down trees and destroying their habitats. Over the last 4 years more than 10 Tuatara have been caught in possum or rat traps 3 of which died in the traps cause to lack of food and water. There are about 50,000- 100,000 Tuatara left in the world- all of which in New Zealand.

Every two to five years Tuataras will mate. A male Tuatara will wait outside the female’s burrow until she is ready. 8-9 months later the female will lay her eggs in a sunny place. 11- 16 months later the eggs will hatch. Tuatara lay eggs about 6-10 at a time. They lay their eggs in small burrows in the ground.
Did you know that the warmer the soil that the eggs are in the more likely it will be a male!
Female Tuatara often become angry after mating and attacks the male!

http://www.doc.govt.nz/documents/science-and-technical/tsop21.pdf
http://www.kcc.org.nz/tuatara